ABSTRACT
ItneedbenotedattheoutsetthatwhenSoreltransformedhiswish imagesintoactualinstrumentsfortheconductofmen,hebecame guiltyoffallingintoanambivalentattitudetowardideologyand utopia.Hemovedfromaformofthoughtreflectingapartial,partisanpictureofsociety,toanequallyfracturedrepresentationof whatthisworldmustbelikeinthefuture.Sorelrecognizedthat'an ideologicalsystemisneverperfectlycoherent.'Yethewasonlyable todeducefromthis,notthelimitationsofideologyasaformofsocial consciousness,buttheimpossibilityofsocialknowledgeassuch,that is,associalscience.1
