Beyond Sociology: Trans-Civilizational Dialogues and Planetary Conversations

Description

This book explores the contours of a transformational sociology which seeks to reconsider the horizons of sociological imagination. It questions accepted modernist assumptions such as the equation of society and nation-state, the dualism of individual and society and that of ontology and epistemology. Arguing that contemporary sociology suffers from what Ulrich Beck calls the Nato-like fire power of western sociology, it argues that sociology has to open itself to transcivilizational dialogues and planetary conversations about self, culture and society. The book also challenges scholars to go beyond a privileging of the post-traditional telos of modernist sociology and puts forward a foundational interrogation of modernist sociology. It underscores the limitations of established conventions of sociology and considering an alternative sociology based upon Confucian vision and practice of self-transformation. This collection offers a way to go beyond dominant structures of modern sociology and contemporary dominant ways of thinking about and doing sociology helping us cultivate a transdisciplinary sociology. Front Matter ....Pages i-xvii Beyond Sociology: An Introduction and An Invitation (Ananta Kumar Giri)....Pages 1-10 The Concept of Society: Beyond the Socio-Centric and Atman-Centric Predicament (Daya Krishna)....Pages 11-27 Beyond Sociology: Cultivating an Ontological Epistemology of Participation (Ananta Kumar Giri)....Pages 29-51 Deep Sociology (John Clammer)....Pages 53-69 Inferential Dialectics: On Dialectical Reasoning in Critical Social Science and the Socio-Cultural World (Piet Strydom)....Pages 71-92 Moral Consciousness and Communicative Action: From Discourse Ethics to Spiritual Transformations (Ananta Kumar Giri)....Pages 93-121 Beyond Sociology: Mysticism and Society (Philip Wexler)....Pages 123-144 Confucian Self-Transformation as an Alternative Sociology: Meaningful Action vs. Performance with Differential Profundity (Wei-Hsu Lu)....Pages 145-171 Structure, Agency and Victimization: On the Ethics of Scientific Writing (Gudrun Dahl)....Pages 173-191 With and Beyond Plurality of Standpoints: Sociology and the Sadhana of Multi-Valued Logic and Living (Ananta Kumar Giri)....Pages 193-220 Afterword: Beyond a Materialist Sociology (Marcus Bussey)....Pages 221-224 Back Matter ....Pages 225-228