Dunne, Stephen (Author)
History of the Human Sciences
Volume: 27, no. 3
Issue: 3
Pages: 76-95
Edition Details: Article in a special issue, “Norbert Elias and Process Sociology -- Across Disciplines”
Language: English
Norbert Elias's early work -- specifically `Idea and Individual' -- offers a positive account of philosophy's potential contribution towards historically oriented concrete sociological investigation. His later work, on the other hand, characterizes philosophical investigation as little more than a distraction from the myth-exposing vocation of the (figurational) sociologist. This later `post-philosophical' account of figurational sociology predominates today. Within this article, however, I suggest it has come to prominence through a series of dubious rhetorical strategies, most notably subtextual hearsay and disingenuous caricature. By dispensing with the post-philosophical rhetoric, I argue, figurational sociologists might again, following the Elias of `Idea and Individual', take the possibility of a philosophically grounded sociology seriously. If the article does not convince figurational sociologists to revisit philosophy as a potentially positive sociological resource, however, my effort will not have been wasted for as long as it demonstrates the presently dubious nature of their post-philosophical rhetoric.
...MoreArticle Gabriel, Norman; Kaspersen, Lars Bo (2014) “Human Beings in the Round”: Towards a General Theory of the Human Sciences. History of the Human Sciences (pp. 3-19).
Similar Citations
Book
Marc Joly;
(2020)
Après la philosophie: histoire et épistémologie de la sociologie européenne
(/isis/citation/CBB219540123/)
Article
Mennell, Stephen;
(2006)
Elias and the Counter-Ego: Personal Recollections
(/isis/citation/CBB000670855/)
Article
Andrew Linklater;
(2023)
Religion and civilization in the sociology of Norbert Elias: Fantasy–reality balances in long-term perspective
(/isis/citation/CBB969460125/)
Article
Kilminster, Richard;
(2014)
The Dawn of Detachment: Norbert Elias and Sociology's Two Tracks
(/isis/citation/CBB001420226/)
Article
Filipe Carreira Da Silva;
Marta Bucholc;
(2016)
On the Pragmatics of Social Theory: The Case of Elias's “on the Process of Civilization”
(/isis/citation/CBB645977324/)
Article
Karstedt, Susanne;
(2007)
Explorations into the Sociology of Criminal Justice and Punishment: Leaving the Modernist Project Behind
(/isis/citation/CBB000773667/)
Book
Salumets, Thomas;
(2001)
Norbert Elias and Human Interdependencies
(/isis/citation/CBB000102300/)
Article
Agra do Ó, Alarcon;
(2008)
Norbert Elias e uma narrativa acerca do envelhecimento e da morte
(/isis/citation/CBB000932877/)
Thesis
Morales, Michele Elaine;
(2006)
Persistent Pathologies: The Odd Coupling of Alcoholism and Homosexuality in the Discourses of Twentieth Century Science
(/isis/citation/CBB001560656/)
Article
Gabriel, Norman;
(2014)
Growing up beside You: A Relational Sociology of Early Childhood
(/isis/citation/CBB001420227/)
Article
Wan, Poe Yu-ze;
(2012)
Analytical Sociology: A Bungean Appreciation
(/isis/citation/CBB001252235/)
Article
Charles Turner;
(2019)
Social Types and Sociological Analysis
(/isis/citation/CBB522061288/)
Article
Keller, Eve;
(2000)
Embryonic Individuals: The rhetoric of seventeenth-century embryology and the construction of early-modern identity
(/isis/citation/CBB000110287/)
Book
Feest, Uljana;
(2010)
Historical Perspectives on Erklären and Verstehen
(/isis/citation/CBB001230024/)
Chapter
Boudon, Raymond;
(2004)
Théorie du choix rationnel ou individualisme méthodologique?
(/isis/citation/CBB000774986/)
Book
Otávio Bueno;
Ruey-Lin Chen;
Melinda Bonnie Fagan;
(2018)
Individuation, Process, and Scientific Practices
(/isis/citation/CBB334934609/)
Book
Norbert Elias;
Bernard Lahire;
(2016)
La dynamique sociale de la conscience
(/isis/citation/CBB936368744/)
Article
Breuer, Stefan;
(1994)
Society of individuals, society of organizations: A comparison of Norbert Elias and Max Weber
(/isis/citation/CBB000046360/)
Book
Alexandre Guay;
Thomas Pradeu;
(2015)
Individuals Across the Sciences
(/isis/citation/CBB012397496/)
Article
Gabriel, Norman;
Kaspersen, Lars Bo;
(2014)
“Human Beings in the Round”: Towards a General Theory of the Human Sciences
(/isis/citation/CBB001420221/)
Be the first to comment!