FWeinert, Bradford University (UK)1 Friedel Weinert: Philosophy of the Social Sciences Year II: Semester II SS-2000M Historical Perspectives on the Social Sciences: Natur- und Geisteswissenschaften Lecture III

FWeinert, Bradford University (UK)2 The Hermeneutic Model + Move from France to Germany 1home of Idealism and rise of historical consciousness åreflection on the role of language and the role of history in human affairs å‘hermeneutic’ - originally the art of text understanding +J. G. Droysen, Grundri  der Historik (1868) +W. Dilthey, Introduction to Human Studies (1883) The Construction of the Historical World (1910) +H. Rickert, Limits of Concept Formation in the Natural Sciences (1902) Emergence of Social Sciences: Hermeneutics

FWeinert, Bradford University (UK)3  Droysen: Understanding is inference from external expressions to internal events.  Problem of hermeneutic circle Emergence of Social Sciences: Hermeneutics ‘Totality’, i.e. a culture, language or worldview Public utterances

FWeinert, Bradford University (UK)4 Opposition to Positivism  methodological autonomy of historical sciences  historical research does not seek explanation (‘deduction’)  historical life has elements of freedom, responsibility, morality +Dilthey *explanation-understanding dichotomy *Understanding *Shift from early subjectivist to later objectivist view, from introspective psychology to objective history +Dilthey’s justification for autonomy claim *structural difference between natural and social sciences Emergence of Social Sciences: Hermeneutics

FWeinert, Bradford University (UK)5 Natural versus Social Sciences Emergence of Social Sciences: Hermeneutics

FWeinert, Bradford University (UK)6 Interpretation of matrix  Justification for autonomy of SS 2 Subject - object relationship (natural sciences) 1scientists share common paradigm 1symbolic generalisations, exemplary problem solutions, particular models of nature and reality, values 1study causal order of nature 1study of physical world involving external aspects(outer reality) 1aim: explanation of phenomena (subsumption under laws, causal patterns) 1use of quantifiable categories (space, time, mass, motion) Emergence of Social Sciences: Hermeneutics

FWeinert, Bradford University (UK)7 2Subject - subject relationship (human studies) 1scientists share common paradigm 1social science paradigms more loosely bound 1use of symbolic mapping (models, ideal types) 1study of social world involving internal aspects(inner reality) 1study of its symbolic meaning and its purposive order 1aim: understanding of social phenomena (subsumption under categories like meaning, purpose, value, development and ideal 2Dilthey’s account of Understanding 1only in understanding can the relationship between the inner life and its outer expressions be comprehended 1men’s actions are influenced by the structure of mental life 1the mental structure is the logical subject of the social sciences Emergence of Social Sciences: Hermeneutics

FWeinert, Bradford University (UK)8 Natural Sciences ]deal with pre-given world of interrelated physical objects ]deal with causal order ]changes in the material world occur as result of blind forces or intervention Social Sciences [deal with pre-given mind- constructed world [deal with purposive order [changes in social world occur as the result of conscious intervention Dilthey’s transformation from a subjectivist to an objectivist view Emergence of Social Sciences: Hermeneutics

FWeinert, Bradford University (UK)9 Early Dilthey éhuman studies are grounded in inner experience, facts of consciousness éunderstanding of others based of lived experience and self- understanding éintrospective self-knowledge as model for social sciences Later Dilthey  humans operate and interact in shared context  this common context takes on objective forms, due to use of symbolic language and institutions îstyles of life îforms of economic interactions îmorality, law, state and religion îart, science and philosophy Emergence of Social Sciences: Hermeneutics

FWeinert, Bradford University (UK)10 Emergence of Social Sciences: Hermeneutics Forms of Collective Life PastPresentFuture Mind-constructed world as a system of interactions Objectifications of Life: cultural, economic, political systems Creation of values, realisation of purpose Understanding

FWeinert, Bradford University (UK)11  Problem of Relativism oobjectifications of life are created by individuals, communities, cultural systems othese systems have their own ‘focal point’: values and purposes ounderstand a historical world as a system of interactions within its own (closed) horizon ohermeneutic circle returns osocial sciences: mutual dependence of the particular and the general ounderstanding as a technique peculiar to social sciences Emergence of Social Sciences: Hermeneutics Understanding as a form of induction Inferences from expression in known situations to their meaning in unknown situations Inferences from particular actions to structures/systems  Weber’s Ideal Types

FWeinert, Bradford University (UK)12  Some problems in Dilthey’s view: ¨Dilthey’s view may lead to psychologism (understanding as a introspective technique) and relativism ¨Replace the view that Understanding is a technique by the view that it is a mode of human existence (Gadamer, Habermas, Giddens) The Notion of Understanding in Recent Debates ¨Weber: social action is meaningful ¨society is created and recreated in social action ¨social actions have symbolic meaning Emergence of Social Sciences: Hermeneutics

FWeinert, Bradford University (UK)13 Weber on Verstehen and Explanation +Verstehen, in itself, is not an adequate method +Social sciences combine Verstehen and Explanation +Verstehen as method for construction of Ideal Types +The ideal type must be empirically confirmed: suggests existence of some empirical regularities (social trends) +Illustration Emergence of Social Sciences: Hermeneutics

FWeinert, Bradford University (UK)14 Verstehen as Condition of Social Life  Social sciences deal with pre-interpreted world (subject-subject relation)  the construction of social theory involves a double hermeneutic: the social scientist interprets a social world, which already has symbolic meaning, (re-)produced by social actors  problem of Verstehen arises in obtaining data  conceptual schemes of social scientists also express double hermeneutics  Contrast natural sciences: stand in subject-object relation, faced with a simple hermeneutic  natural world is not pre-interpreted  yet natural sciences interpret data Emergence of Social Sciences: Hermeneutics

FWeinert, Bradford University (UK)15 Simple Hermeneutic Emergence of Social Sciences: Hermeneutics Natural Sciences T1T2TnT1T2Tn Natural WorldNatural Systems (simple) hermeneutic Social world

FWeinert, Bradford University (UK)16 Double Hermeneutic Emergence of Social Sciences: Hermeneutics Social Sciences T1T2TnT1T2Tn Social World Social Actors Hermeneutic 1 Hermeneutic 2 & Reflexivity

FWeinert, Bradford University (UK)17  +H. Rickert, Limits of Concept Formation in the Natural Sciences (1902) *all knowledge based on idealisations *same reality becomes ‘nature’ from a general point of view, ‘history’ from an individual point of view *in both cases  universal statements Emergence of Social Sciences: Hermeneutics

FWeinert, Bradford University (UK)18 Emergence of Social Sciences: Hermeneutics Natural Sciences Cultural Sciences Presuppositions General LawsAbsolute Values Testable Theories Non-Testable World-views