Arguments and Actions in Social Theory

Intellectual trajectory is not organized in advance, we do not begin by surveying the intellectual ground before deciding upon a line of enquiry, rather we fall into conversation, our starting points are accidental, our early moves untutored - they are not informed by a systematic knowledge of the available territory, rather they flow from curiosity, we read what strikes us as interesting and discard that which seems dull. This personal idosyncratic aspect to scholarly enquiry is part and parcel of 'doing' social science, not something to be regretted, denied or avoided. Exploring the philosophy of social science, where claims about the nature, intellectual value and utility of social theorizing are routinely disputed, this book argues that social theorizing comprises a wide diversity of situation-bound attempts to make practical sense of shifting circumstances. Placing theorists within the social world this study shows how theorizing is both bounded and creative, how imagination and creativity builds upon the resources of tradition and how such an awareness is the basis of dialogue with other traditions, cultures and ways of making sense of the world.