What is meant
Shahrur sees human beings and society as not remaining in one state, but moving through successive historical stages. He links this development to the development of consciousness and language, thereby explaining transformations in society and the state.
The atom’s structure in the atlas
- Type of argument: historical
- Movement of the argument: he holds that society and human beings move through stages tied to changes in consciousness and language.
- Central terms: human society, historical development, consciousness, language.
- Degree of centrality: primary.
It lays a historical foundation for understanding society in Shahrur, so that it is not read as fixed, but as an entity that changes with the change of consciousness, language, and the course of human accumulation.
Links that help with reading
Basis
- Supporting text: “Shahrur links the development of human beings and society to the development of consciousness and language.”
Place of the basis in the book
- Book: The State and Society.
- Location: in the middle section of the book within the discussion of social development.
- Type of basis: near witness.
- Marker that helps verification: the changing collective mind
- Reading note: This location is suitable as support because it links the development of society to the development of consciousness and thought, and is close to the atom.
Degree of documentation
- Level: directly documented
- Meaning of the level: the atom relies on an explicit witness close to the wording of the claim.
- Limits of reading: the wording above is an analytical summary and should not be treated as a verbatim quotation unless the witness is quoted textually.
Its function in the book
Its function here is declarative; it establishes a result on which what follows in the course of the argument depends.
Editorial note
The atom is foundational because it gives the theory its overall historical framework.