L’ottimismo evolutivo. Talcott Parsons e l’ordine societario

The essay distinguishes three phases in Talcott Parsons’s engagement with the concept of evolution. In the initial phase, he challenges the utilitarian tradition and 19th century evolutionism, proposing his conceptualization of normative evolutionism. This approach aims to integrate the values and ultimate goals of individuals within the social order. In the second phase, influenced by cybernetics and systems theory, Parsons denaturalizes evolution by establishing the specificity of social systems in relation to the living ones. This approach can be called «systemic evolutionism». In the third phase, Parsons proposes its own evolutionary paradigm by applying it to modernity. History itself is functionalized and the United States become the culmination of the Western social and political evolution. In conclusion, the essay analyzes the limits of Parsons’ approach, that are evident in the failure of its historical prognoses.