Abstract

BRANTE, Thomas. Consequências do realismo na construção de teoria sociológica. Sociologia, Problemas e Práticas [online]. 2001, n.36, pp.9-38. ISSN 0873-6529.

This article sets from the conviction that the future sociology must decrease its present tendency to fragmentation and instead increase its explanatory capacity, wich is tantamount to a deepening of sociological theory. For this purpose, a new, realist meta-theory is suggested and contrasted to extant positivistic and relativistic philosophies of science. In the second part, some implications of critical and causal realism for sociology are discussed. In particular, a level division of sociology is proposed as a way to: increase the comparability of rival explanatory models; strengthen the focus on theory-development; facilitate cumulative research; and turn sociology into a more interventionist science. It is argued that a level-ontology coupled with a causal approach constitutes a first crucial step towards the epistemological break that is necessary if sociology wants to leave its present phase of Naturphilosophie and become a genuinely explanatory science.

Keywords : Realism; causality; explanation; sociological theory.

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