How Was Sociology Invented?

The philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah’s latest book, Captive Gods: Religion and the Rise of Social Science, is concerned with the origins of the social sciences. His main claim is that “it’s through religion that society becomes a disciplinary object.” What Appiah means by this is that the founders of the modern social sciences—notably Edward Burnett Tylor, Max Weber, Emile Durkheim, George Simmel—used religion as a framework through which they established sociology as a discipline. But what religious assumption, then, did their sociological analysis assume? And what significance does the religious origins of the social sciences have for contemporary social thought? The Nation spoke with Appiah about the anti-secular stance of right-wing movements, the invention of sociology, and his new book. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.