Monadology and Sociology

104 Pages·2012·3.1 MB·English

by  Gabriel Tarde

Gabriel Tarde
Monadology
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MONADOLOGY AND SOCIOLOGY
TRANSMISSION
Transmission denotes the
transfer of information,
objects or forces from one
place to another, from
one person to another.
Transmission implies
urgency, even emergency:
a line humming, an alarm
sounding, a messenger
bearing news. Through
Transmission interven-
tions are supported, and
opinions overturned.
Transmission republishes
classic works in philoso-
phy, as it publishes works
that re-examine classical
philosophical thought.
Transmission is the name
for what takes place.
MONADOLOGY AND SOCIOLOGY
Gabriel Tarde
edited & translated by Theo Lorenc
re.press Melbourne 2012
re.press
PO Box 40, Prahran, 3181, Melbourne, Australia
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© re.press 2012
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
Author: Tarde, Gabriel de, 1843-1904.
Title: Monadology and sociology / Gabriel Tarde ; translated by
Theo Lorenc with afterword and notes.
ISBN: 9780980819724 (pbk.)
ISBN: 9780980819731 (ebook : pdf)
Series: Transmission.
Subjects: Sociology--Philosophy.
Monadology.
Other Authors/Contributors:
Lorenc, Theo.
Dewey Number: 301.01
Designed and Typeset by A&R
This book is produced sustainably using plantation timber, and printed in the
destination market reducing wastage and excess transport.
CONteNtS
translator’s Preface 1
Monadology and Sociology 5
Afterword: tarde’s Pansocial Ontology 73
v

trANSLAtOr’S PrefACe
The text used for this translation is the 1895 edition of Monadologie
et Sociologie, in Gabriel Tarde (1895) Essais et mélanges sociologiques,
Lyon, A. Storck / Paris, G. Masson, pp. 309-389. This text is a re-
worked and expanded version of an article published in 1893 as
‘Monads and Social Science’ (‘Les Monades et la Science Sociale’),
Revue Internationale de Sociologie, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 157-173 and vol.
1, no. 3, pp. 231-246. The earlier version corresponds to chapters I,
IV, V and VI of the 1895 text. A small amount of material is in the
earlier version of the text but not the later version; this is given in
the notes to this translation (minor stylistic variants between the
two are not noted).
Two modern editions of the original text are available: Éric
Alliez (ed.), Le Plessis, Institut Synthélabo, 1999; M. Bergeron
(ed.), Québec, Cégep, 2002, available at http://classiques.uqac.ca/
classiques/tarde_gabriel/monadologie/monadologie.html).
These editions give no sources of Tarde’s citations; J. Sarnes and
M. Schillmeier’s German translation (Gabriel Tarde, Monadologie
und Soziologie, Frankfurt, Suhrkamp, 2009) gives a few but not
all. I have attempted to trace all the citations, without complete
success; however, it is likely that some passages marked as cita-
tions in the text are paraphrases rather than verbatim quotes.
References given are to English translations where available.
Tarde uses the masculine gender throughout when referring
to persons in general; the translation conforms to this usage.
I would like to thank Isaac Marrero-Guillamón and Dan Cryan
for their assistance.
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MONADOLOGY AND SOCIOLOGY