Lecture 10 Flashcards
1
Q
What is Dithey’s approach about natural and mental phenomena?
A
- The world exists of natural phenomena and mental phenomena
- Both are empirical objects that can be studied by empirical study
- Differences: mental phenomena have content and meaning as opposed to natural phenomena
2
Q
What is Dithey’s idea of erklaren?
A
- Natural phenomena: erklaren (verklaren)
- to explain outcomes by means of covering laws
- Dingen die er gewoon zijn; zwaartekracht (no content)
3
Q
What is Dithey’s idea of verstehen?
A
- Mental phenomena: verstehen
- Social and cultural manifestations of human life
- Content and meaning
- Begrijpen: How could WWII happen? Because of bad economy.
4
Q
What are the characterisations of verstehen?
A
- Purposive
- Meaningful
- Relationality
5
Q
What is purposiveness?
A
- Feeling of having a purpose
- Distinctive of human action
- we can make sense of human actions by rationalising them (citing their reasons)
6
Q
What is meaningfulness?
A
- Things have a meaning because we ascribe meaning to them; sensitivity to ascriptions
- Two consequences for scientists:
1. sensitivity for and evaluation of ascriptions: we cannot capture a phenomenon’s meaning irrespective of the meaning ascribed to it by all people for whom the phenomenon plays a role. (no one person has authority over meaning ascribed; but not any meaning is as good as the other)
2. Double hermeneutic: there is nothing like the original interpretation. Understanding a phenomenon is related to understanding previous interpreters.
7
Q
What is relationality?
A
- We can pick out a natural phenomenon without engaging in an attempt to explain it; erklaren. But we cannot pick out a mental phenomenon in the same way because the meaning of a mental phenomenon is central to its identity.
8
Q
What is criticism on RCT from the Verstehen standpoint?
A
- RCT may be able to make sense of events that we describe as choices…
- …but making sense of them as choices requires the verstehen approach
