To know the social world, understand the meanings people give to their actions. Aim for interpretation, not prediction.
- +Fits Social Ontology, Phenomenological Ontology
- –Tension with Naturalism
Key thinkers: Max Weber, Alfred Schutz, Clifford Geertz
The longer story
Interpretivist epistemology is often an umbrella term—phenomenology, hermeneutics, and constructivism all shelter under it. What unites them is a basic insight: humans aren't billiard balls. You can't understand human action by external measurement alone; you need to grasp the meaning it has for the people involved. Weber called it Verstehen—understanding from within. The goal isn't prediction but insight into how people make sense of their worlds. This doesn't mean 'anything goes'—good interpretation is rigorous, grounded in evidence, open to challenge. Use this card for the general commitment to meaning; use the others for specific traditions.