Durkheim's Philosophy of Science and the Sociology of Knowledge

Creating an Intellectual Niche

Bibliographic Data

ID7101462
AuthorsMarcel Fournier (corresponding author)
Year1995
Volume24
Issue5
Pages709-709
Publication date1995-09-01
Open AccessNo
TypeREVIEW
Review ofDurkheim's philosophy of science and the sociology of knowledge: Creating an Intellectual Niche, Warren Schmaus, 1994
VenueContemporary Sociology A Journal of Reviews (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0094-3061 • E-ISSN: 1939-8638
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.2307/2077421
OpenAlexW1987572152
LanguageEN

In this demonstration of the link between philosophy of science and scientific practice, Warren Schmaus argues that Durkheim's philosophy is crucial to his sociology. Through a reinterpretation of the relation between Durkheim's major philosophical and sociological works, Schmaus argues that Durkheim's sociology is more than a collection of general observations about society, it reflects a constructed theory of the meanings and causes of social life. Schmaus shows how Durkheim sought to make sociology more rigorous by introducing scientific methods of analysis and explanation into the study of society. Durkheim tried to reveal how implicit, commonly held beliefs actually govern people's lives. Through an original interpretation of Durkheim's landmark writings, Schmaus argues that Durkheim, in his empirical studies, refined both the methods of sociology and a theory about society's shared knowledge and practices

Biology · Epistemology · Niche · Social science · Sociology · Sociology of knowledge · Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice · Critical Realism in Sociology · Ecology · Emile Durkheim and Sociology · Philosophy

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