The Sociological Imagination of Dhurjati Prasad Mukerji: Beyond Hermeneutics and Positivism

This article looks into a particular philosophical problem that haunts both Sociology and Marxism, and where D P Mukerji's perspective may be seen as relevant. There has been much ado in sociology over the debate between hermeneutic and positivist approaches. Drawing insights from D P Mukerji, we see his intervention as an attempt to find a way out of this impasse through a distinct rendition of the Marxian dialectic, which is seen as open rather than closed. His rendition combines three principles: taking sides, dynamics of the objective human reality, and most truthful to the wholeness. This unique rendition, D P Mukerji argues, is apt for addressing the philosophical problem of sociology in the context of the specificity of Indian history.