Syllabus
The issues of sociology of knowledge, historical context of emergence, relation to studies of other social sciences, relation to social, ethical and logcal frameworks;
2. Sociology and history of modern knowledge, changes in the course of science evolution; concepts of paradigm, program, tradition, themes; traditions of modern knowledge: positive, dualistic and hermeneutic.
3. A. Comte - founder of sociology and positive tradition in social epistemology
4. Recent attempts to revive positive tradition - K. Popper, logical empirism and post-pozitivní responses
5. M. Scheler - critic of positive tradition of moder knowledge, foundations of hermeneutic tradition
6. Recent interpretations of phenomenological tradition
7. M. Weber - dualistic tradition of modern knowledge, interpretative approach to social reality
8. K. Mannheim - pokus o překlenutí dualistické tradice moderního vědění
9. Evolution of the notion of ideology - implications of mass culture and current media
10. Problems of science´s role in current industrial, meialized and democratic societies in view of J. Habermas a J. B. Thompson.
11. Role of knolwedge in post-mpodern conditions - view of A. Giddens and M.Foucault.
Annotation
The sociology of knowledge aims at explaining the interrelation between the mission of modern knowledge, its internal structure, and its contribution to socio-cultural life. This course follows an evolutionary approach - identifing the changing role of reflexivity of social sciences, and of sociology in particular -, and a structural approach articulating logical, ethical and social of three traditions in the formation of modern (western) knowledge (the positive, the phenomenological and the dualistic traditions), referring to classic authors, including Comte, Scheler,
Mannheim, Weber, as well as to more recent ones, such as the Vienna circle, Schutz, Giddens or Latour. The suggested approach is used to explain the position of three key knowledge sources promoting reproduction and development of modern societies: experta´knowledge, symbolic tokens and everyday habitualized knowledge.
The lectures are carried out in winter semestr and exams are organised in exam time of this semestr. Results of written test and the participation in the lecture in the form of written commentaries are used for the evaluation of students´ performance.