Poza „dwiema socjologiami”, czyli o ciągłej potrzebie budowania „trzeciej drogi” dla nauk społecznych

Abstract

This paper is an introduction to the most important philosophical and institutional problems in which contemporary sociology is involved. At the beginning of this work I present the main polarization—positivist sociology vs. humanist sociology—which is crucial for the whole discipline. Around this polarization, essential diff erences in this discipline are focused—the ontological, epistemological and methodological ones. In this text, I consider the main debates that swept through sociology and the philosophy of social science: positivist dispute with its anti-positivist (anti-naturalist), phenomenological, hermeneutical and critical opponents; Wertfreiheit dispute, as well as the debate on the possible restructuring of social sciences on the institutional level. In the final part of this paper, the author points at the continuing need to seek a “third way,” the possibility of overcoming the opposite positions in social sciences.