In this interview, conducted in Santiago at the end of 2024, Carlos Pea reflects on the role of sociology and critical thinking in todays world.The conversation examines the significance of sociology and the social sciences as vital tools within the critical and reflective framework of modernity.In doing so, it establishes a direct connection between the practice of sociology and the preservation of democratic ideals in modern societies.The conversation also examines the connection between criticism, enlightenment, and the constitutive contingency of the social order as a key aspect of sociological inquiry.In doing so, Pea describes what he considers to be some of the philosophical and normative foundations of the social sciences, with a particular focus on sociology.In his view -and in opposition to other descriptions based purely on datasociology and the social sciences, along with their theoretical apparatus, are central tools for unravelling the contingency of what purports to be necessary or impossible in social life.Thus, he describes an intimate and indissoluble connection between criticism, social sciences and democracy.
Peña et al. (Sun,) studied this question.