ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Alternative Sociology: Probing into the Sociological Thought of Allama M. T. Jafari Chapter 4: Sociology and Three Kinds of Relationships Allama Jafari speaks about three kinds of relationships in his sociological inquiries. In other words, there are three general kinds of relationships between individuals in any society: 1. Natural, 2. Psychological, and 3. Contractual.

Natural Relationship The most common relation is the natural relationship which is divided itself into two groups; 1) Deterministic-Intrinsic Type and 2) Deterministic-Extrinsic Type. For instance, the question of instinctual movement and its saturation are parts of the natural relationship and also of deterministic nature.

Because the instinct exists as a need and a faculty within our body and due to the fact that its presence is of an inherent nature then its relational function is of deterministic character. In other words, the instinctual relationships are of fundamental importance to the integrity of human life. Any human individual is born with this innate ability which makes the relationship between male and female a matter of impulse and not choice.

In other words, when one speaks of free will in this level it should be noted that the very question of impulse is not the issue but how it is exemplified is the problem here. To put it differently; who to choose as a spouse is dependent on the will of the subject but the very question of compulsion to choose the opposite sex is not optional but instinctual. This is the simplest and also the most essential kind of relationship between human beings.

Now we can turn to the question of extrinsic relationship among human beings which are not optional but compulsory within the natural realm of relationship in accordance to Allama Jafari’s approach. For example, individuals in a society decide to cooperate with each other against external enemy forces or dangers such as flood which would assist them in defending themselves.

This is an example of a compulsory relationship but of an extrinsic nature as the external dangers either natural or human have forced humanity along its historical course to build coalitions with each other in various different forms of relationships.