The article analyzes the critique of normative epistemology in the work of Karl Mannheim, stressing its presence both in his more philosophical phase, associated with the praise of historicism, and in his later Sociology of Knowledge. It also calls attention to the relevance of this critique: attacking the epistemologists of his time by not taking into proper account the findings of particular empirical sciences, Mannheim anticipated by decades recent trends in the Sociology of Knowledge and epistemological reflection.
Sociology of Knowledge; Normative Epistemology; Philosophy of History