The old certainties – the belief in the capacity of human intelligence to develop a transcendental rationality, and the idea of infinite progress through this increased knowledge – seemed to work well for a time as a self-description of intellectual human endeavour. Where sociology was concerned, however, Luhmann saw this quest for truth and progress as an unfortunate starting point. It did not lead, as it was expected to do, to increased knowledge opening the way to a better world. Instead what has emerged is a multitude of coexisting theories and hypotheses which give the impression of employing reliable scientific methods, but which depend ultimately for their validity on the particular belief about human nature that the particular sociological observer subscribes to.

XREF: Echoes Kuhn's paradigm dependence and other postmodern critiques of scientific objectivity; connects to the sociology of knowledge tradition. QUESTION: Does Luhmann offer an alternative grounding for sociology if observer-dependent beliefs undercut validity?

Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, loc. 14