The transcendence of the social: Durkheim, Weismann, and the purification of sociology Meloni, Maurizio 2016, The transcendence of the social: Durkheim, Weismann, and the purification of sociology, Frontiers in sociology, vol. 1, pp. 1-13, doi: 10.3389/fsoc.2016.00011. Attached Files Name Description MIMEType Size Downloads meloni-transcendenceofthe-2016.pdf Published version application/pdf 308.60KB 1 Title The transcendence of the social: Durkheim, Weismann, and the purification of sociology Author(s) Meloni, Maurizio Journal name Frontiers in sociology Volume number 1 Article ID 11 Start page 1 End page 13 Total pages 13 Publisher Frontiers Media Place of publication Lausanne, Switzerland Publication date 2016-07 ISSN 2297-7775 Keyword(s) Durkheim Weismann hard heredity Lamarckism sociology biology purification boundary-work Summary Building on Fox Keller’s acute genealogy of the nature–nurture opposition as located in a certain specific social, cultural, and political history in the late nineteenth century (2010), in this paper, I address a parallel problem: the making of a really modern (i.e., non-biological) sociology nearly at the same time as the “hard disjunction” (Keller, 2010) between heredity and the environment, nature and nurture, was made. I argue rather provocatively that traces of borrowing from hard heredity to sociology can be seen in Durkheim’s strategic usage of Weismann to destroy Lamarckian sociology. The transcendence of the social in Durkheim is entirely isomorphic to Weismann’s transcendence of the germ plasm: in both cases, they aimed to construct objective realities, radically independent and exterior from individual tendencies and peculiarities. Weismann offered Durkheim an important scientific companion to make boundaries between sociology and biology. In a Latourian sense (Latour, 1993), the purification strategy of Durkheim was actually helped by a hybridization with Weismann’s biology. In conclusion, by taking Weismann as an anticipator of the genetics revolution a few years later, I argue for a profound complicity between twentieth century non-biological sociology and genetics. They both made space for a neat distinction between biological heredity and sociocultural transmission, heredity, and heritage. If sociology and genetics thought of themselves as rivals and even enemies in explaining social facts, they should reconsider their positions. Language eng DOI 10.3389/fsoc.2016.00011 Field of Research 160806 Social Theory 160808 Sociology and Social Studies of Science and Technology 220206 History and Philosophy of Science (incl Non-Historical Philosophy of Science) Socio Economic Objective 970116 Expanding Knowledge through Studies of Human Society HERDC Research category C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal Copyright notice ©2016, Meloni Free to Read? Yes Use Rights Persistent URL http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30107778 Document type: Journal Article Collections: Faculty of Arts and Education Open Access Collection Related Links Link Description Connect to published version (open access) Go to link with your DU access privileges     Unless expressly stated otherwise, the copyright for items in DRO is owned by the author, with all rights reserved. Every reasonable effort has been made to ensure that permission has been obtained for items included in DRO. If you believe that your rights have been infringed by this repository, please contact drosupport@deakin.edu.au. Versions Version Filter Type Fri, 20 Apr 2018, 11:00:39 EST Fri, 20 Apr 2018, 15:29:29 EST Fri, 20 Apr 2018, 15:37:55 EST Thu, 20 Sep 2018, 06:02:06 EST Thu, 20 Sep 2018, 10:46:23 EST Thu, 20 Sep 2018, 10:48:24 EST Fri, 21 Sep 2018, 17:24:38 EST Filtered Full Citation counts:   Cited 0 times in TR Web of Science Cited 0 times in Scopus Search Google Scholar Access Statistics: 14 Abstract Views, 3 File Downloads  -  Detailed Statistics Created: Fri, 20 Apr 2018, 11:00:39 EST

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