ABSTRACT
This chapter explores that in spite of its foundational aspiration to establish itself as a science of society', sociology does not develop through the extension of a singular paradigmatic vision to ever-new topics. Rather, it thrives through offering multiple perspectives on social life. In the spirit of contributing to the debate over sociology's appropriate ends, this chapter proposes what it calls transformative knowledge' as at least one possible substitute end that the discipline might aim its endeavours towards. Transformative knowledge, by contrast, is both enormously helpful in regenerating our forever-provisional human ends, as well as in helping discern and unsettle those unidentified and potentially undesirable ends that may unconsciously be aiming our activities towards. The chapter proposes the production of transformative knowledge' offers at least one possible broad substitute end for sociology to work towards; an end that does not reiterate scientistically-conceived sociology's tautological goal of simply understanding' society for it own sake.
