List of contributorsPreface1 Comparative disciplines: an introductionMaurice AdamsI Comparative law as a non-autonomous disciplineII Comparative law and comparative disciplinesIII Outlook of this volume2 Methods of legal history and comparative lawGeoffrey SamuelI Introduction: epistomological issuesII Diachronic versus synchronic: is history everywhere and nowhere?III Science eclipsing historyIV Language versus eventsV Holism versus individualismVI Reality (truth?) versus fictionVII Concluding remarks3 Comparative legal historyKjell A. ModeerI Translation and transition of knowledgeII Comparative law related to legal historyIII Comparative legal historyIV Comparative law as a legal field of modernityV Comparative legal constructsVI Comparative law in a time of globalizationVII New trends in comparative legal history researchVIII Concluding remarks4 Comparative sociology: epistemological issuesJean-Pascal DalozI IntroductionII The problem of dogmatic assumptions and deductive reasoningIII Illustration: elite distinction studies and the challenge of comparative analysisIV Navigating the twin perils of ethnocentrism and reductionism5 Elements of a comparative methodology in the study of religionOliver FreibergerI IntroductionII The configuration of a comparative studyIII The comparative processIV Conclusion6 Comparative methods in legal anthropology: `thick' comparison through (cultural) translationKatrin SeidelI Introductory remarksII `The functional method is a chimera, in both theory and practice of comparative law'III A (global) legal pluralist perspective as a point of departureIV Towards a thick comparison: (cultural) translation as an analytic lensV Concluding remark7 The comparative advantage of cultural anthropologyPeter van der VeerI Holism: anthropology as conceptual engagement with social lifeII Conclusion8 Methods in comparative politicsMathew Y.H. WongI IntroductionII The origin: the comparative methodIII Case selection in comparative politicsIV Statistical analysisV The (difficult) pursuit of causal relationshipsVI Case study versus large-N studyVII Conclusion9 Comparative philosophy and comparisonRalph WeberI IntroductionII The subject of comparative philosophyIII Comparative philosophy and the logic of comparisonIV Specific issues about comparison in comparative philosophyV Conclusion10 Between comparison and commensuration: the trouble with global social indicatorsDavid NelkenI IntroductionII Defining comparison and commensurationIII Commensuration in action: global social indicators as a case studyIV Final observations: what is to be done?11 Particularism versus universalism in the history of comparative literatureAngus NichollsI Introduction: a short history of comparative literatureII Friedrich Max Muller: an example of a nineteenth-century comparatistIII The British `comparative method' and its Germanic rootsIV Goethe and Muller: a meta-comparisonV Muller's contemporary relevance: or, a `negative dialectics' of comparison12 Comparing across societies and disciplinesMark Van HoeckeI What is meant by `comparing'?II Theoretical frameworkIII Interaction of culturesIV Culturalism or universalism?V Translation and transplantationVI Common languageVII Tertium comparationisVIII InterdisciplinarityIX MethodologyX Conclusion13 Conclusion: challenges of comparisonMaurice AdamsMark Van HoeckeI The struggle with methodologyII Is there any comparative method at all?III Comparative research designIV First challenge: collecting dataV Second challenge: understanding the otherVI Third challenge: combining quantitative with qualitative analysisVII Fourth challenge: tertiumVIII Fifth challenge: interdisciplinarityIX Sixth challenge: theory buildingX ConclusionIndex