Theorizing Modernity: Inescapability and Attainability in Social TheoryThis book argues that sociology has lost its ability to provide critical diagnoses of the present human condition because sociology has stopped considering the philosophical requirements of social enquiry. The book attempts to restore that ability by retrieving some of the key questions that sociologists tend to gloss over, inescapability and attainability. The book identifies five key questions in which issues of inescapability and attainability emerge. These are the questions of the certainty of our knowledge, the viability of our politics, the continuity of our selves, the accessibility of the past, and the transparency of the future. The book demonstrates how these questions are addressed in different forms and by different intellectua |
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action analysis answers argued argument assumption autonomy basic become Chapter claims Claude Lefort collective identity common concept condition context continuity and coherence critical critique cultural debate Derrida developed Dewey's discourse discussion emergence empirical entails epistemic epistemological Europe European exile experience foundations French Revolution Friese Habermas Hannah Arendt Hegel Heidegger historicization idea individualist liberalism inescapability intellectual interpretation issues Jean-Luc Nancy Jürgen Habermas knowledge latter least Lyotard modernist social science modes neo-classical economics nineteenth century nostalgia notion observation orientations origins particular past philosophy of history plurality political modernity political order political philosophy political problématique political theory position possibility post-structuralism postmodern present problem quest for certainty question radical rational rational choice theory reasoning recent reference relation revolutions rupture seen selfhood sense singular human situation social theory social world society socio-historical sociology space specific substantive temporality theoretical thinking tion tradition transformation twentieth century understanding Wagner