Citation

Nielsen DA. Sociol. Relig. 1991; 52(1): 55-76.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1991, Association for the Sociology of Religion)

DOI

10.2307/3710715

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article focuses on the role played by key civilizational categories, especially images of "nature," "natural law," the "state of nature," and several related notions in the gestation of heterodox ideals and movements in different civilizations. It focuses on the tensions and balances struck within the civilizational settings of Europe, China, and India between "major" (or orthodox) currents of ideas and institutions and "minor" (or heterodox) ones. The conflicting outcomes derived from Stoic-Christian natural law in Europe (as described by Troeltsch) are compared with the structurally similar, yet differently composed and articulated, tensions in China between Confucian and Taoist ideals, while the altogether different outcomes in India (noted by Weber) are used as a third negative reference point. Similar problems in the Russian setting are briefly discussed as a fourth point of comparison. This paper concludes with theoretical reflections drawn from Marx, Toennies, and the Durkheim school on the explanation of such intracivilizational structures and processes.