If, on the other hand, sociology could go beyond this level and seek to establish its intellectual position in positive terms by formulating a theory of its own, and then enter a dialogue with the everyday understanding of the social world and its formation of this understanding through ethics, then the advantages of a certain common vocabulary might well outweigh its disadvantages. It is in this sense that the following reflections on the notion of trust are aimed at a contribution to sociological theory.

DEFINE: Defines the author's methodological stance: sociology should build its own positive theory and enter dialogue with everyday understanding, rather than merely distinguishing itself negatively.

Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, loc. 90