A sociologia como uma filosofia práptica e moral (e vice versa)

Abstract

While a good deal of contemporary sociology is political and moralizing, moral sociology as such remains largely underdeveloped. Unlike the sociology of religion, the sociology of knowledge or the sociology of arts, moral sociology does not have a real tradition, although the founding fathers had, of course, a strong interest in morality and ethics. To develop a moral sociology worthy of its name, one has first to break down the disciplinary barrier between sociology and philosophy and overcome the reticence and resistance of professional, critical and public sociologists to engage into some constructive "border thinking". In this article, I want to make an attempt to reconnect sociology to moral philosophy and moral philosophy to sociology. The thesis I want to defend is that sociology continues by other means the venerable tradition of practical and moral philosophy. Like its forebears, it stands and falls with a defense of "practical wisdom" (Aristotle) and "practical reason" (Kant).