The Sociology of Philosophical Knowledge Revisited: Relativism, Scepticism, Reductionism

This chapter revisits the author’s 1995 book Psychologism: A Sociology of Philosophical Knowlege in a critical, constructive and comparative spirit. It begins with a brief summary of Psychologism. Subsequently, it identifies two key influences and discusses two recent studies that might be seen as sociological alternatives to what the author tried to do in the 1990s. It offers critical comments on these alternatives. Finally, the author formulates two objections to his previous work before turning to the question where the philosophical relevance of the SPK might lie.