The Self-Reflexivity of Social Action
The Self-Reflexivity of Social Action

Summary/Abstract: The most puzzling and striking feature of Social Theory lies in the impossibility to control its leaning toward self-fulfilling statements. In Sociology, the epistemic explanation become part of explained world and the Theory is at risk to become either futile or subjective along with the dialectic evolution of social understanding. As major mature sciences, it has solid instruments and methods for acquiring useful knowledge, self-regulatory rules for assuring the accuracy of its affirmations and errors refutation. More than any other sciences, it achieved the level of meta-theoretical thinking about its own practice and sets up its limits and expertise. However this is not enough. The understanding brought by sociological the most evolved concept of reflexivity is overwhelmed complexity of social reality, because it fails to cover the self-reference supposed by itself. The Scientific discourse of third person should be transcended toward the level of dialectical co-constructed consciousness-reality awareness, that the subjective “I”, is the condition of possibility for objective knowledge (of Science), which, in turn, represents the categorical conditions of possibility for (self-)understanding. A self-reflexive level of understanding instead, would illuminate many concealed suppositions, conundrums and inconsistencies of social discourse and reasoning. This enhancement is also required to put the present uncontrolled collective intelligent development of Mankind on a safety and desirable path.

• Details
• Contents