Truth And Social Science: From Hegel To Decontruction

Description:
This exciting and accessible guide to the discussions of truth in the social sciences can also be read as an account of the collapse of modernity, and the rise of new forms of thought which treat difference and ambivalence as positive values. Ross Abbinnett traces the debate on truth from the 'objectifying powers' of Kant through more than 200 years of critique and reformulation to the unravelling of truth by Lyotard, Foucault and Derrida.

Table of Contents:
Introduction IDEALISM AND SOCIAL THOUGHT THE RATIONAL AND THE SOCIAL Kant and the Origins of Social Science Hegel's Concept of Rational Life Speculative Thought and Modernity THE STRUCTURAL ORGANISATION OF TRUTH Structure, Functions and Systems Marx's Critique of Capital The Powers of Totality THE IDEALISM OF AUTONOMY Weber and the Concept of Social Action Habermas and the Ethics of Communication POSTSTRUCTURALISM AND THE VIOLENCE OF TRUTH Foucault and the Modern Domains of Power Lyotard and the Community of Judgement Violence, Rationality and Community TRUTH AND MODERNITY Marx and Weber Utopic and Dystopic Ends Community, Modernity and Speculative Judgement Hegel, Derrida and the Metaphysics of Race Bibliography Index