%0 Journal Article
%T Sociology as the Philosophy of the Future
%A Antoni Lindgren
%J Asian Social Science
%D 2012
%I 
%R 10.5539/ass.v8n8p45
%X In the beginning of sociology it was a philosophy for promoting the Good society. Sociology was what we in Feuerbach¡¯s terms may call a ¡°philosophy of the future¡±. The German enlightenment is crucial if one wants to go beyond: create an alternative to today¡¯s sociology. Kant¡¯s notion of experience bridges the abyss created by the empiricists and rationalists by placing knowledge in man. Sociology is very much a heritage of the French Enlightenment, Auguste Comte (1798-1857) and Emile Durkhein (1858-1917). They thought of themselves as positivists, i.e., as doing something ¡°objective¡±. At the same time as heirs of the ideas of Enlightenment they wanted sociology to be used in order to improve society, to create a Good society. Comte had a view of this whole ¨C society - in terms of Man. Lost in Durkheim is this idea of man developing in and through society, reflecting a change in the social context, in the development of the capitalist society. After the death of Durkheim in 1917 sociology holds a marginal position in the French society but then in the late 1940¡¯s it rises again and in this new sociology American sociology was dominating, becoming an applied science. Today sociology continues this empiricist tradition. It is claimed that society has become something out-of-control. Instead we should follow its French and German roots. Understanding society as a reflection of ourselves, of man is what we need in order to create a Good society for everyone, this also should be the first principle of sociology as the philosophy of the future.
%U http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/ass/article/view/18502