ABSTRACT
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A good way to classify works at the intersection of philosophy and sociology is by their answers to two general questions: (a) Is philosophy a first-order discipline that competes with sociology to explain social phenomena or a second-order discipline that defines the adequacy conditions for sociological explanation? (b) Are philosophy and sociology alike or opposed in their conceptual orientation to one another? The combinations generated by these two questions imply four possible answers: (a) philosophy is a first-order discipline akin to sociology, (b) philosophy is a first-order discipline opposed to sociology, (c) philosophy is a second-order discipline akin to sociology, (d) philosophy is a second-order discipline opposed to sociology. Both (a) and (b) define a space for social epistemologies, in which sociology “takes over”, in some sense, the philosophical task of accounting for the nature of knowledge and reason, which is typically interpreted as the grounds for legitimate authority in society. However (c) and (d) define a space for social ontologies, in which philosophy attempts to circumscribe the scope of sociological inquiry, with or without the blessing of practising sociologists.
