Karl Mannheim: Thoughts on Democracy in Exile
This article concerns the evolution of sociologist Karl Mannheim's thoughts in the context of Weimar republic's colapse and German emigration of the 30's. Facing the missed occasion that is the weimarian democracy, Mannheim tries to develop an original sociological and philosophical project which highlights another possible history for democracy. The article is divided in two parts. The first part puts forward the sociological thoughts of Mannheim in the years preceding his escape to England (1929-1933), and is essentially characterised by his ideal of philosophical experimentation. The second part shows that this type of experimental thought is the base of his first post-weimarian book entitled Mensch una Gesellschaft im Zeitalter des Umbaus (1935), in which he tries to rebuild the intellectual foundations of a democracy which could emancipate itself from History's fatality, and become master of it's own destiny.