The heuristic and epistemic account of Verstehen in 20th century American philosophy
- Author
- Fons Dewulf (UGent)
- Organization
- Abstract
- In this paper I distinguish two ways to approach Verstehen: a heuristic and an epistemic perspective. Whereas the heuristic perspective conceives Verstehen merely as a subjective methodological aid to guide empirical research, the epistemic account conceives it as a way to transform source-material into empirical evidence. I use the contemporary investigation of Shakespeare’s sexuality to illustrate this distinction. I discuss the heuristic account of Verstehen as originally defended by Carl Hempel and Theodore Abel and show how their account had its origin in an interpretation of Dilthey as a relativist by the American philosopher Maurice Mandelbaum. By revisiting the earliest responses against Hempel’s heuristic account, from Paul Oskar Kristeller and Otto Neurath, I argue that from the very beginning the heuristic account lacked any credibility to be applied to real debates in the humanities, like the debate about Shakespeare’s sexuality.
Downloads
-
(...).docx
- full text (Accepted manuscript)
- |
- UGent only
- |
- Word
- |
- 65.11 KB
Citation
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication: http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-8685234
- MLA
- Dewulf, Fons. “The Heuristic and Epistemic Account of Verstehen in 20th Century American Philosophy.” The History of Understanding in Analytic Philosophy : Around Logical Empiricism, edited by Adam Tamas Tuboly, Bloomsbury, 2022, pp. 63–86.
- APA
- Dewulf, F. (2022). The heuristic and epistemic account of Verstehen in 20th century American philosophy. In A. T. Tuboly (Ed.), The history of understanding in analytic philosophy : around logical empiricism (pp. 63–86). London: Bloomsbury.
- Chicago author-date
- Dewulf, Fons. 2022. “The Heuristic and Epistemic Account of Verstehen in 20th Century American Philosophy.” In The History of Understanding in Analytic Philosophy : Around Logical Empiricism, edited by Adam Tamas Tuboly, 63–86. London: Bloomsbury.
- Chicago author-date (all authors)
- Dewulf, Fons. 2022. “The Heuristic and Epistemic Account of Verstehen in 20th Century American Philosophy.” In The History of Understanding in Analytic Philosophy : Around Logical Empiricism, ed by. Adam Tamas Tuboly, 63–86. London: Bloomsbury.
- Vancouver
- 1.Dewulf F. The heuristic and epistemic account of Verstehen in 20th century American philosophy. In: Tuboly AT, editor. The history of understanding in analytic philosophy : around logical empiricism. London: Bloomsbury; 2022. p. 63–86.
- IEEE
- [1]F. Dewulf, “The heuristic and epistemic account of Verstehen in 20th century American philosophy,” in The history of understanding in analytic philosophy : around logical empiricism, A. T. Tuboly, Ed. London: Bloomsbury, 2022, pp. 63–86.
@incollection{8685234,
abstract = {{In this paper I distinguish two ways to approach Verstehen: a heuristic and an epistemic perspective. Whereas the heuristic perspective conceives Verstehen merely as a subjective methodological aid to guide empirical research, the epistemic account conceives it as a way to transform source-material into empirical evidence. I use the contemporary investigation of Shakespeare’s sexuality to illustrate this distinction. I discuss the heuristic account of Verstehen as originally defended by Carl Hempel and Theodore Abel and show how their account had its origin in an interpretation of Dilthey as a relativist by the American philosopher Maurice Mandelbaum. By revisiting the earliest responses against Hempel’s heuristic account, from Paul Oskar Kristeller and Otto Neurath, I argue that from the very beginning the heuristic account lacked any credibility to be applied to real debates in the humanities, like the debate about Shakespeare’s sexuality.}},
author = {{Dewulf, Fons}},
booktitle = {{The history of understanding in analytic philosophy : around logical empiricism}},
editor = {{Tuboly, Adam Tamas}},
isbn = {{9781350159204}},
language = {{eng}},
pages = {{63--86}},
publisher = {{Bloomsbury}},
title = {{The heuristic and epistemic account of Verstehen in 20th century American philosophy}},
year = {{2022}},
}