Reconstructing Social Theory, History and Practice

Harry F. Dahms, Department of Sociology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USAEric R. Lybeck, Department of Sociology, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK

• IntroductionPART I: PROJECTS OF RECONSTRUCTION IN HISTORY: NEO-PLATONISM, HEGEL, HONNETH, AND DERRIDAThe Birth Of The True, The Good, And The Beautiful: Toward An Investigation Of The Structures Of Social Thought - John Levi MartinThe Concept Of Normative Reconstruction: Honneth, Hegel, And The Aims Of Critical Social Theory - Andrew BuchwalterEuporia: On The Limits, Horizons And Possibilities Of Critique (Or: On Reconstruction) - Raymond Aaron YounisPART II: PROJECTS OF RECONSTRUCTION IN SOCIAL THEORY: SELF, SUFFERING, AND RELIGION IN MODERNITYReconstructing The Self: A Goffmanian Perspective - Simon SusenWeber And Levinas On Modernity And The Problem Of Suffering: Reconstructing Social Theory As Ethically Framed Rather Than Epistemologically Framed - Stan J. KnappRowan Williams And Hans-Georg Gadamer Contra Jürgen Habermas: Rethinking The Problem Of Religion For Liberals As A Problem Of Dialogue - Justin CruickshankPART III: RECONSTRUCTION AND POLITICAL PRACTICETheoretical Reconstruction For Welfare State Democracy: `Third Way' Sociology And The Art Of The Possible - E. Stina LyonReconstructive Science And The European Constitution: Habermas, Citizenship, And The Tension Between Facts And Norms - William OuthwaitePART IV: REVIEW ESSAYTurning The Circle: Considerations Of “The Postmodern Turn” À La Simon Susen - Lawrence Hazelrigg

Philosophy, political science, and sociology scholars from the US, UK, and Australia present nine essays mostly based on papers presented at the annual conference of the International Social Theory Consortium in the UK in June 2015. They address the need for reconstruction after a long period of deconstruction in social theory, to take account of and examine the possibility of reassembling and rebuilding what was deconstructed. They consider reconstruction in social theory, history, and practice, discussing “the True, the Good, and the Beautiful” in European social thought; Axel Honneth's work on Hegel's theory of normative reconstruction; the dichotomy between aporia and euphoria; Erving Goffman's work; Weber's social theory as a basis for understanding suffering, in addition to the work of Emmanuel Levinas; Rowan Williams, Hans-George Gadamer, and Jürgen Habermas and religion; the intellectual and political origins of the Swedish, egalitarian, democratic welfare-state ideology in the 1930s; and the political philosophy of Europe and Habermas' model of reconstruction.