The sociology of philosophical knowledge

a case study and a defense

Martin Kusch

pp. 15-38

in: Martin Kusch (ed), The sociology of philosophical knowledge, Berlin, Springer, 2000

Abstract

One can either debate the sociology of philosophical knowledge or one can do it (cf. Shapin 1982, p. 157). I have done it, that is, presented a case study in the sociology of philosophical knowledge, in a book entitled Psychologism (1995a). There I tell the story of the fall of naturalistic philosophy in Germany between 1880 and 1920. My treatment of this key episode in the history of twentieth-century philosophy is sociological, in that I focus as much on sociopolitical factors as I analyze philosophical arguments. I consider not only the philosophical writings of, say, Frege, Husserl, Erdmann, Sigwart, and Wundt, amongst others, but also professional interests, struggles over professorial chairs, wars, and mentalities. I shall summarize this case study below. In the second, main part of this chapter, however, I wish to debate, that is, justify or defend rather than do, the sociology of philosophical knowledge.

Cited authors

Husserl Edmund

Frege Gottlob