Abstract
Sociological reflection on reason is caught between two sets of considerations. The aspiration to objective knowledge of the social world presupposes the possibility of freeing oneself from a set of various dependencies (institutional, economic, intellectual...) considered contingent and external. Yet, at the same time, scientific knowledge, being itself the product of social activity, requires, according to the ordinary procedures of the sociological approach, to be considered as historically conditioned. Is the sociologist doomed to favour one of the two sides on which his activity and reflection cannot fail to be engaged and exercised? If not a definitive answer, we can at least try to see what kind of specific contribution could be made to this debate.
