Epistemology and Sociology of Knowledge: An Hegelian Undertaking

The relationship between epistemology and the sociology of knowledge is discussed. It is asserted that epistemology is logically basic to the sociology of knowledge. Epistemology in turn has to be founded in the analysis of the nonformalized logic inherent in everyday language. The relationship between epistemology and the sociology of knowledge is discussed and exemplified, first, by an analysis of the concept of false consciousness. If discussed in an epistemological context, it is argued, the analysis of false consciousness leads to unsolvable difficulties, whereas its treatment as a sociological problem of knowledge is adequate. A second illustration contrasts the two approaches and involves an analysis of the Neo-Kantian foundations of Durkheimian and Weberian sociology. Finally, attention is directed towards Habermas's theory of communicative action. Whereas Habermas tries to abandon epistemological problems and give his theory a sociological anchoring, it is argued that a theory of language and communication must make its point of departure from an epistemological analysis in order to avoid an abstractive fallacy.