Durkheim's Epistemology: The Neglected Argument

Abstract

Durkheim's epistemology, the argument for the social origins of the categories of the understanding, is his most important and most neglected argument. This argument has been confused with his sociology of knowledge, and Durkheim's overall position has been misunderstood as a consequence. The current popularity of a "cultural" or "ideological" interpretation of Durkheim is as much a misunderstanding of his position as the "functional" interpretation from which the current interpretations seek to rescue him. Durkheim articulated a sophisticated epistemology in the classical sense, a point that has been entirely missed.

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