Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Sociology of Philosophical Knowledge

  • Book
  • © 2000

Overview

Editors:
  1. Martin Kusch

    1. University of Cambridge, UK

    View editor publications

    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

Part of the book series: The New Synthese Historical Library (SYNL, volume 48)

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this book

Log in via an institution
eBook USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

Licence this eBook for your library

Institutional subscriptions

Table of contents (9 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xii
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Wittgenstein as a Conservative Thinker

    • David Bloor
    Pages 1-14

  3. The Sociology of Philosophical Knowledge: A Case Study and a Defense

    • Martin Kusch
    Pages 15-38

  4. Why did Gottlob Frege and Ernst Schröder Fail in their Attempts to Persuade German Philosophers of the Virtues of Mathematical Logic?

    • Jarmo Pulkkinen
    Pages 39-59

  5. Painting an Icon: Gaston Bachelard and the Philosophical Beard

    • Cristina Chimisso
    Pages 61-91

  6. The Agonistic Ethic and the Spirit of Inquiry: On the Greek Origins of Theorizing

    • Barry Sandywell
    Pages 93-123

  7. Politics and Patterns of Developing Indigenous Knowledge under Western Disciplinary Compartmentalization: The Case of Philosophical Schools in Modern China and Japan

    • Matthew Chew
    Pages 125-153

  8. Reflexivity and Social Embeddedness in the History of Ethical Philosophies

    • Randall Collins
    Pages 155-178

  9. The Contextualism of Philosophy

    • Volker Peckhaus
    Pages 179-191

  10. Sociological Accounts and the History of Philosophy

    • Jorge J. E. Gracia
    Pages 193-211

  11. Back Matter

    Pages 213-221
    Download chapter PDF
Back to top

Keywords

About this book

This volume brings together a number of authors that see themselves as contribu­ tors to, or critical commentators on, a new field that has recently emerged within the sociology of knowledge. This new field is 'the Sociology of Philosophical Knowledge' (SPK). Studying philosophers and their knowledge from broadly sociological or political perspectives is not, of course, a recent phenomenon. Marxist writers have used such perspectives throughout the twentieth century, and, since the sixties, feminist authors have also occasionally engaged in sociological analysis of philosophers' texts. What distinguishes SPK from these sociologies is that SPK is not engaged in a political struggle; indeed, SPK remains, in general, neutral with respect to the truth or falsity of the doctrines it studies. In doing so, SPK follows the 'strong programme' in the sociology of scientific knowledge. In 'Wittgenstein as a Conservative Thinker', David Bloor draws on the work of the sociologist Karl Mannheim in order to situate Wittgenstein's philosophy. Mannheim distinguished between two important styles of thought in the nine­ teenth century. The first, the 'natural law' ideology was associated with ideas of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution. It emphasized individualism, progress, and universal reason. The second style of thought was 'conservatism'.

Editors and Affiliations

  • University of Cambridge, UK

    Martin Kusch

Bibliographic Information

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Back to top

Search

Navigation