TITLE:
Interpretivism in Aiding Our Understanding of the Contemporary Social World
AUTHORS:
Muhammad Faisol Chowdhury
KEYWORDS:
Interpretivism, Philosophy, Social Science, Verstehen
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Philosophy,
Vol.4 No.3,
August
22,
2014
ABSTRACT: The purpose of this
paper is to critically discuss the extent of interpretivism to understand the
contemporary social world. This paper firstly highlights the roots of
interpretivism which can be traced back in the ancient history of philosophy. It
then discusses the concept of interpretivism and gives a critical commentary on
the Weber’s construction of ideal types to help explore the contemporary social
world. The paper then further discusses the concept of “verstehen” and explains
how it can add to our understanding of the social world phenomena. Following
this analysis and tackling some philosophical debate, finally, this theoretical
paper confirms that interpretivism has influenced the development of the social
science and has helped our understanding of the contemporary social world to a
great extent.