Epistemological aspects of clinical sociology - From an epistemology of production to an epistemology of reception

Journal/Book: Int Sociol. 1997; 12: 6 Bonhill Street, London, England EC2A 4PU. Sage Publications Ltd. 205-216.

Abstract: Clinical sociology, as a sociology of the Lebenswelt, the lifeworld, is difficult to analyse through the categories of traditional epistemology, oriented towards the study of natural sciences. Therefore, it has been unable to take into account the specificity of sociology, often considered as unscientific from the justification point of view. The point is that sociology, and specifically clinical sociology, develops a specific link with its subject, unlike the natural sciences. Sociology is a science for us and about us, and it takes charge of the problems that belong to the actuality of the social world. Because of this, sociology is not a mere physics of the social world, nor a simple history of the contemporary world. It is concerned with the expectations of society, and the whole history of sociology demonstrates this. Therefore, classical approaches such as critical rationalism or even the sociology of science have to be completed by a specific analysis of this double link between clinical sociology and society: following the works of Gadamer, Habermas and Jauss and through a phenomenological approach, it is what we propose under the name of epistemology of reception.

Note: Article Bouilloud JP, Escp, 79 Ave Republ, F-75543 Paris 11, FRANCE

Keyword(s): clinical sociology; epistemology; hermeneutics; reception; sociology

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