Ontological Problematics in Sociological Interpretation: To the Question Statement

Occupation: Head of Sociology of Education and Science Department; Prof., Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Political Science named after G.S. Arefieva
Affiliation:
Institute of Sociology of FCTAS RAS
National Research University "Moscow Power Engineering Institute"
Address: Russian Federation, Moscow

Journal name

Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya

Edition

Issue 1

Pages

5-16

Abstract

Is the ontological issue recognized in contemporary sociology? If it is denied and left "at the mercy" of social philosophers, then this state of affairs provides a serious argument for positivists and supporters of the "unscientific" sociology. At the same time, at best, sociology lowers its status to descriptive-phenomenological, extra-scientific and, possibly, everyday (ordinary) knowledge. In the worst case, we will talk about specialized techniques and technologies that are used for their specific purposes by pollsters, market experts and political strategists. If the problem of ontology is interpreted as the recognition of the special and independent existence of the studied reality, then the question of the relationship between epistemology and relativistic (multiple) ontology comes to the fore. At the same time, the reality becomes independent of the researcher and is represented by the aggregate consensus (professional) discourse in which the sociologist is “immersed”. Thus, sociology confirms the status of modern scientific knowledge about society and about social processes in it. The article shows that in theoretical sociology, ontological problems necessarily smoothly pass into epistemology, and begin to "dissolve" in value-historical coordinate systems. For its part, epistemology constructs a new reality that acquires ontological foundations. In the mutual transitions of epistemology and ontology, a blurred border of “inhuman factuality” arises (P. Berger, Т. Luckmann). A hypothesis is formulated that within these continuous transitions a variety of linguistic realities actively interact among multiple phenomena of everyday life and the diversity of scientific – specialized (professional) sociological discourses.

Keywords

sociology, science, ontology, epistemology, social cognition, social sciences

Received

18.01.2022

Publication date

27.01.2022

Number of characters

31384

Cite

GOST	Klucharev G. Ontological Problematics in Sociological Interpretation: To the Question Statement // Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya – 2022. – Issue 1 C. 5-16 [Electronic resource]. URL: http://ras.jes.su/socis/s013216250017230-6-1-en (circulation date: 23.07.2024). DOI: 10.31857/S013216250017230-6
MLA	Klucharev, Grigoriy A. "Ontological Problematics in Sociological Interpretation: To the Question Statement." Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya 1 (2022):5-16. DOI: 10.31857/S013216250017230-6
APA	Klucharev G. (2022). Ontological Problematics in Sociological Interpretation: To the Question Statement. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya (1), pp.5-16 DOI: 10.31857/S013216250017230-6

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