For over a century, the knowledge produced by universities and utilized by states has held global dominance, originating in early modern Europe and spreading through colonialism. Despite its historical roots, modern Western knowledge has been regarded as "universal," unlike pre-modern and non-Western forms of knowledge. In this ambitious work, Sanjay Seth contends that modern knowledge and social sciences are products of Western modernity, revealing that what we consider "truths" from social scientific inquiry are, in fact, parochial. Drawing on postcolonial theory, the book spans various disciplines, including science studies, social history, and political science, engaging with contemporary thinkers like Butler, Habermas, and Chakrabarty. It argues that social sciences, while globally impactful, cannot escape the Western contexts from which they arose. This leads to critical questions about the purpose of social sciences: what do they "do"? Modern knowledge is divided into disciplines, each with distinct inquiries and protocols, prompting an exploration of the purposes these disciplines serve. The book anatomizes history and political science to investigate the representations and relationships they foster with the past and politics, as well as the perspectives they limit in understanding and engaging with the world.
