Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-ph5wq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T20:14:49.367Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

6 - Hermeneutics and Positivism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 December 2018

Michael N. Forster
Affiliation:
Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn
Kristin Gjesdal
Affiliation:
Temple University, Philadelphia
Get access

Summary

This chapter is a critique of the positivist reception of hermeneutics. This reception was marked by the positivist theory of historical explanation as subsumption under a covering law or a causal generalization. It is argued that this theory cannot explain many aspects of historical method, specifically those that are used to reconstruct events in the past. The positivist assumes that the past is a given and then attempts to find a covering law to explain it; but most historical research has to reconstruct a past that is not given and is not concerned with the discovery of law-like regularities. The positivist polemic against hermeneutics is also discussed and it is argued that this rests upon a caricature, as if hermeneutics were nothing more than empathy. Last but not least, the chapter is an examination of Weber’s theory that historical understanding requires both causal and normative explanation where normative explanation is not reducible to causal explanation.
Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×