Is It Natural to Be Social? Marcus Aurelius and George Herbert Mead on Socialization

Abstract

This discussion asks at which point in our lives we become social. The foundation for this study is Marcus’ conception that a common substance between humans and the rest of the universe indicates one living organism. Because this organism’s substance is pantheistic, it rationally orders the world. Marcus describes the universe as a single community due to the cooperative ordering that results between the things in it. I compare this singular universal community to Mead’s definition that a co-constitution between individual organisms and surrounding environment marks a singular social mechanism. I note how both Marcus’ and Mead’s conceptions incorporate human and nonhuman elements into a worldly collegiality. Despite this similarity, Marcus’ community involves a ladder of entities and social hierarchies based on relative degrees of rationality. Humans ultimately hold a greater socialized status and more collective responsibilities than other creatures and entities. In response, I consider whether a more unconditional sense of Marcus’ universal community is possible by incorporating Mead’s theory of a wholistic systemic plurality without hierarchies.