Universalism: Reflections on the philosophical foundations of sociology

Abstract

This article reflects on the link between sociology and universalism. Its central thesis is that, as a critical heir of natural law theories of the seventeenth century and of the Enlightenment of the eighteenth century, sociology adopts from them a claim to universalism with which it cannot do away. But if it does not want to become only a antiquarian-piece, the discipline must constantly re-think what is it, what are the shortcomings and how it can renew its own claim to universalism. The first section explores, with the help of Reinhart Koselleck, the linkages between the idea of crisis, the rise of sociology and the problem of universalism. The second seeks to unfold the elective affinity between modern natural law and sociology via works by Leo Strauss, Robert Fine and Jürgen Habermas. The third section centres upon the most extended criticism to the expression of this claim to universalism: its alleged Eurocentrism. The article ends with some comments on the challenges that the postmodern critique and the new orthodoxy on globalization pose to the traditional ways in which sociology has understood its universalistic horizon.