Beyond Reason

Postcolonial Theory and the Social Sciences

Sanjay Seth

An ambitious and controversial argument that the social sciences do not transcend their modern and Western origins, and are thus a parochial, not a universal, form of knowledge
Since the social sciences are not explained and validated simply by the fact that they are "true," this book proceeds to inquire into what purpose they serve, what it is that they "do"
Anatomizes the disciplines of history and political science to ask what representations of the past and of politics these academic disciplines enable, and what possibilities they foreclose
Engages with a wide range of disciplines and contemporary thinkers in the course of developing its argument, all in a lucid and jargon free manner

Beyond Reason

Postcolonial Theory and the Social Sciences

Sanjay Seth

Description

The knowledge disseminated by universities and mobilized by states to govern populations has been globally dominant for more than a century. It first emerged in the early modern period in Europe and subsequently became globalized through colonialism. Despite the historical and cultural specificity of its origins, modern Western knowledge was thought to have transcended its particularities such that, unlike pre-modern and non-Western knowledges, it was "universal," or true for all times and places.

In this bold and ambitious book, Sanjay Seth argues that modern knowledge and the social sciences are a product of Western modernity claiming a spurious universality: that what we treat as the "truths" discovered by social scientific reason are instead a parochial knowledge. Drawing upon and deriving its critical energies principally from postcolonial theory, Beyond Reason traverses many disciplines, including science studies, social history, art and music history, political science, and anthropology, and engages with a range of contemporary thinkers including Butler, Habermas, Chakrabarty, Chatterjee, and Rawls. It demonstrates that while global in their impact, the social sciences do not and cannot transcend the Western historical and cultural circumstances in which they emerged.

If the social sciences are not explained and validated simply by the fact that they are "true," it becomes possible to ask what purpose they serve, what it is that they "do." A defining feature of modern knowledge is that it is divided into disciplines, each with its own object of inquiry and corresponding protocols, and thus asking what such knowledge "does" requires asking what purpose disciplines serve. It also requires asking what ways of understanding the world they facilitate and what they disallow. Beyond Reason proceeds to anatomize the disciplines of history and political science to ask what representations and relations with the past and with politics these academic disciplines enable, and what ways of understanding and engaging the world they foreclose.

Beyond Reason

Postcolonial Theory and the Social Sciences

Sanjay Seth

Acknowledgements
Introduction
PART I: MODERN WESTERN KNOWELDGE UNDER CHALLENGE
Chapter 1: Unsettling the Modern Knowledge Settlement
Chapter 2: Defending Reason: A Postcolonial Critique
PART II: POSTCOLONIALISM AND SOCIAL SCIENCE
Chapter 3: The Code of History
Chapter 4: The Anachronism of History
Chapter 5: International Relations: Amnesia and Empire
Chapter 6: Political Theory and the Bourgeois Public Sphere
Epilogue: Knowledge and Politics
Bibliography
Index

Beyond Reason

Postcolonial Theory and the Social Sciences

Sanjay Seth

Author Information

Sanjay Seth, Professor of Politics and Director of the Centre for Postcolonial Studies, Goldsmiths, University of London

Sanjay Seth is Professor of Politics and Director of the Centre for Postcolonial Studies at Goldsmiths, University of London. He has published extensively in the fields of postcolonial theory, modern Indian history, political and social theory, and international relations, including two previous books and two edited books. His articles have appeared a wide range of journals, including The American Historical Review, Journal of Asian Studies, Comparative Studies in Society and History, Social Text, Cultural Sociology, and International Political Sociology, and some of these have been translated into Portuguese and Spanish. He is a founding co-editor of Postcolonial Studies.

Beyond Reason

Postcolonial Theory and the Social Sciences

Sanjay Seth

Reviews and Awards

"Beyond Reason makes an ambitious, compelling, and original argument that social science, far from being universal, is instead a parochial form of knowledge that has been globalized through the mechanisms of colonialism and imperialism. With great erudition,Seth combines a broad epistemological critique of social scientific knowledge with a detailed discussion of the disciplines of history, international relations, and political theory. The result is a fascinating reflection on the limits of social scientific reason." - Amy Allen, author of The End of Progress: Decolonizing the Normative Foundations of Critical Theory

"Sanjay Seth's penetrating analysis of the contingent and parochial origins of the social sciences offers novel ways of framing arguments for the decolonization of knowledge. Beyond Reason unfolds a new vision of a twenty-first century social science critically aware of its possibilities and limitations. An outstanding and erudite intervention in an important debate." - Dipesh Chakrabarty, author of The Climate of History in a Planetary Age

"Sanjay Seth's powerful argument takes seriously the historicity and contingency of all knowledge, without falling into relativism. He explores how Western ideas of progress and rationality have been decentered at a time of their unprecedented global diffusion. He anatomizes this paradoxical conjuncture, engaging with important work in science studies, political theory, social history, anthropology, and decolonial studies. He does so without embracing alternatives from the global 'South' or claiming the authority of 'critique', but by espousing an epistemology and an ethics of translation. Seths rigorous arguments will stimulate much needed discussion and debate on the limits and potential of our present thinking." - James Clifford, author of Returns: Becoming Indigenous in the 21st Century

"After the sweeping critiques of Western ways of knowing by poststructuralist and postcolonial theory, what then? With patience, clarity, and sophistication, Sanjay Seth tackles the paradoxes of a situated examination of situated knowledge. By focusing on the authorizing work of academic disciplines, he brings a fresh perspective to the limits and possibilities of social science." - Webb Keane, author of Ethical Life: Its Natural and Social Histories

"Beyond Reason is a timely and signal contribution to provincialize Western knowledgeand ways of knowing. Sanjay Seth does it by cautiously undermining the dogmas that identify the explanation with what is explained and the belief that 'society' is an existing entity rather than a social sciences invention." - Walter Mignolo, author of The Politics of Decolonial Investigations