Contemporary Social Theory Tawhidi Projections

Abstract

Introduction
Contemporary social theory is conventionally addresed from within
the dominant tradition of inquiry. Rarely is it subject to a critical
reflection from beyond its own ken. This is a pity, for the subject matter
and scope of social theory go beyond the confines of any exclusive
tradition, while its reach and influence in the global context of our times
merely reinforce its extended compass. Given the fact that the ambitious
claims made by social theorists about the univetsality of their project are
hardly borne out by the reality, any pretensions at exclusivism or
hegemony would be as anachronistic as they are morally reprehensible.
The gap between the legitimate ambitions for a universally relevant social
theory and the mdity of a field grounded in its historical coflstral.l lt sand
cultural prejudices can be filled only by a critical and constructive
initiative taken from within the profession to constitute a candid, open,
and reflexive self-encounter. The opportuneness for such an initiative is
enhanced by its urgency: the discrepancies that follow on the ineptitude
of our social knowledge can only raise doubts about the relevance of our
science to our social condition.
In deploring the tesulting ineptitude and irrelevance, it is possible to
do so in the voice of a genemlized subject, the universal "I," for surely
this is one of the ateas of convergence where scholats from different traditions
could agree. The measure of this agreement can only be gauged
by remembering that "a science for the study of society" originally went
beyond its grounding in scientific reason to its justification in a moral
reasoning. And here, regardless of the grounding of that morality, we find
another significant area of convergence for scholars working in different ...