Edward Shils was one of the giants of sociological theory in the
period after World War II. In this autobiography, written three
years before his death in 1995 and never before published, Shils
reflects on the remarkable range of his life's work and activities,
including founding and editing the journal Minerva, being a central
figure in the Congress of Cultural Freedom, serving as a founding
member of the editorial board of The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists,
and being a member of the International Council on the Future of
the University.
Shils recognizes that a unity of concern runs through his many
theoretical writings and activities. Early in his life the concern
was expressed as understanding the character of consensus. During
the last fifteen years of his life, he refined his understanding of
consensus through investigation of the nature of "collective
self-consciousness." That concern was the structure and character
of the moral order of a society, and, in particular, liberal,
democratic society. Accompanying the autobiography are two
unpublished essays, "Society, Collective Self-Consciousness and
Collective Self-Consciousnesses" and "Collective Self-Consciousness
and Rational Choice," two areas of intellectual concern discussed
in the autobiography. The book contains fascinating discussion of
many of the people Shils knew throughout his illustrious career:
Robert Park, Louis Wirth, Talcott Parsons, Karl Mannheim, Michael
Polanyi, Audrey Richards, Karl Popper, Robert Merton, and many
others.
The volume represents Shils' final formulations on the
character of society and its moral order. As such, it is a most
important contribution both to the history of the social sciences
in the twentieth century and to sociological theory.
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