The Threefold Calling of Sociology

Abstract

It is a real pleasure and a privilege to participate in this tribute to Richard Kilminster. This paper consists of an illustration of how I was led in my own work to deal with questions of the sociogenesis of sociology and the ‘defunctionalisation’ of philosophy. While I could not have done anything without Richard Kilminster, I have favoured slightly different approaches, methods and fields of investigation. This is what I will try to explain in the following with reference to what I term sociology’s ‘threefold calling’.