Time, Space, and Their Knowledge: The Times and Place of the World and Other Systems

Abstract

At two hours in length, Immanuel Wallerstein’s Presidential Address to the XIVth World Congress of Sociology in Montreal on July 26, 1998, was almost as that of a Secretary General’s Report. Although long, it nonetheless managed to spellbind a most undisciplined audience of innumerable factions through the speech’s unique combination of audacity, erudition and circumspection. The theme and title were “The Heritage of Sociology, The Promise of Social Science.” The address was the outgoing President’s conclusion to a worldwide congressional discussion he had initiated; however, neither the heritage of sociology nor the promise of social science is a ?nite inquiry. My contribution here is thus meant to continue that debate.