Reply to Bernstein.

This article offers a reply to philosopher Richard Bernstein's critique of the book "The Coming Crisis of Western Sociology," by Alvin W. Gouldner. Gouldner asserts that the book is about the history and current condition of sociological theory and research, about the lives sociologists lead, and how these affect the sociology they write. Gouldner feels that Bernstein is unqualified to review his book as a sociologist. He points out that basically, Bernstein's review is a contradictory, nitpicking scratch at a number of minor and usually irrelevant issues. One might have hoped for serious criticism from a philosopher trained, conceivably in linguistic analysis, if that was Bernstein's training. Instead he offers carping, childish nonsense about Gouldner's use of such "emotively charged terms as 'crisis' and 'entropy'. A serious philosopher, for instance, might have explored the nature and meaning of "crisis." According to Gouldner neither sociologically competent nor philosophically analytic, what is Bernstein? He is merely "stern."