„Epistemological modesty“ of Peter L. Berger: Against orthodoxy

Abstract

In this paper author enquire sociology of Peter L. Berger through the concept of „epistemological modesty“. It is considered that Peter L. Berger is one of the few sociologists who, in his „epistemological modesty“, was willing to give up some of the strategically important hypotheses on which modern sociology has been built for decades. In this sense, „epistemological modesty“ has served as a struggle against sociological orthodoxy of various kinds. Also he never belonged to the main streams of American sociology, and to the university establishment in particular. He rather belonged to marginal lines of European „immigrant“ sociology, but Berger and his co-authors were children of their time. This paper also emphasizes those fundamental hypotheses which Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann never gave up, and these hypotheses are found in The Social Construction of Reality.

Keywords

• Peter L. Berger
• Thomas Luckmann
• epistemological modesty
• sociology of knowledge
• social reality