A Comparative Study of Social Evolution from the Perspective of Talcott Parsons and Professor Motahhari

The transformations and changes of human societies on a macro scale as an undeniable fact have always been the concern of philosophers of history and thinkers of social sciences. On the how and manner of the changes of societies with a dynamic approach, three models of evolution, circular and degeneration have been proposed so far. The evolutionary model claims that all or the fundamental parts of a society go through successive stages of growth and development in the process of time and without interruption, and reach a degree of perfection and maturity. The present article aims to compare the views of Talcott Parsons and Professor Motahhari on social evolution by relying on the comparative method in order to gain a deep understanding of what social evolution is and its social and cultural implications. The findings of the research show that these two views are similar to each other in issues such as the belief in the independent existence of the society, the integrated approach to the twin roles of the individual and the society (structures) in the bio-social process and the evolution of the society, the multi-linearity of the path of social evolution. While, these two views disagree with each other regarding what social evolution is, the evolution index, the evolution factor, and its purpose.