Work in Progress

  • Critique of Sociological Reason

    „Die eigentliche ‚Bewegung‘ der Wissenschaften spielt sich ab in der mehr oder minder radikalen und ihr selbst nicht durchsichtigen Revision der Grundbegriffe. Das Niveau einer Wissenschaft bestimmt sich daraus, wie weit sie einer Krisis ihrer Grundbegriffe fähig ist. In solchen immanenten Krisen der Wissenschaften kommt das Verhältnis des positiv untersuchenden Fragens zu den befragten Sachen selbst ins Wanken. Allenthalben sind heute in den verschiedenen Disziplinen Tendenzen wachgeworden, die Forschung auf neue Fundamente umzulegen“. (Martin Heidegger, Sein und Zeit: 9)

    “The real ‚movement‘ of the sciences takes place in the revision of … basic concepts, a revision which is more or less radical and lucid with regard to itself. A science’s level of development is determined by the extent to which it is capable of a crisis in its basic concepts. In these immanent crises of the sciences the relation of positive questioning of the matter in question becomes unstable. Today tendencies to place research on new foundations have cropped up on all sides in the various disciplines”. (Martin Heidegger, Being and Time: 9, translated by Joan Stambaugh)

 
 
  • The Routledge International Handbook of Social Aesthetics (Editor together with Eduardo de la Fuente)

    Aesthetics has often been associated with theories of art and to some degree the appreciation of nature. However, in recent times, aesthetics has been extended to urbanism, economy, work and organization, bodily appearance and the role of senses in everyday life. Aesthetics has also been used to reflect on the nature of the social bond, agency and action, collective moods and sensibilities, and what the study of social life shares with art history, literature, design and the creative disciplines; as well as how aesthetics might inform notions of ‘theory’ and ‘method’ in fields like sociology. The volume features contributions from senior, established and emerging scholars, sociologists, social psychologists, students of organization and culture, space and place, and researchers interested in how aesthetic appearance shapes the self and moral conduct. While there are multiple contributions honouring the pioneering efforts of turn of the last century sociologist and philosopher of culture Georg Simmel, the chapters in the Routledge International Handbook of Social Aesthetics are conceptually pluralistic and empirically as well as geographically diverse. Rather than proposing an ‘aesthetic turn’ or new master concept, the book emphasizes the different kinds of ‘bridges’ that might be constructed between aesthetics and the social sciences.