Interpretivism in Aiding Our Understanding of the Contemporary Social World

Muhammad Faisol Chowdhury

School of Business, North South University, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

DOI: 10.4236/ojpp.2014.43047                

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.

Keywords

Interpretivism, Philosophy, Social Science, Verstehen

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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