Philosophical Origins of Psychological Sociologism in the Methodology of F. De Saussure: "Relationism of G. Tarde"

Abstract

The article raises the problem of philosophical principles and origins of the views of F. de Saussure, namely sociological psychologism in his methodology. The F. de Saussure's autographed materials which appeared in 2002 made it possible to reassess not only the theoretical provisions of the concept of F. de Saussure, but also the problem of philosophical origins of psychological sociologism in the methodology of F. de Saussure. The myth about E. Durkheim as the F. de Saussure's inspirer is firmly rooted in linguistics. The results of the research showed an obvious similarity between the theories of F. de Saussure and G. Tarde. For G. Tarde, society is a vital function of a particular person and a derivative of the experiences of particular people, but for F. de Saussure, the object of linguistics is the socialized linguistic activity of particular people, their informational coexistence with the help of language as a means and speech as a tool, i.e., language and speech are functions of language activity and derivatives of interactions of specific people. G. Tarde was inclined to understand the evolution of sociality as an experiential and purposeful development of interpersonal relations, as a result of which individuals have social functions. F. de Saussure has such an idea hidden in the assertion that all innovations do not come from the language system itself, they are not a priori laid down there, language does not develop by itself and for itself, it is not a priori determined by objective laws of self-development, but it depends on the joint realization of language activity by people (langage), and more specifically – they appear in human speech, i.e. language interaction (discours) and acts of speech will of individuals – language acts, statements (parole). Both G. Tarde and F. de Saussure see the analogy between language and other social institutions, traditions and customs, in particular. At the same time, F. de Saussure warns against unambiguous identification of the nature of these "social facts", because, in contrast to the ritual by their nature religion, morality or traditions, language is a living means of semiological and mental interaction of people.