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Human agency and the social sciences

from contextual phenomenology to genealogy

pp. 187-194

Husserl established the standard phenomenological approach to the social sciences with his claim that transcendental phenomenology determines the universal a priori and fundamental grounds for all objective descriptions and claims. Such a position, however, appears to leave phenomenology open to the charge that it presupposes some kind of disinterested observer, who offers non-contextual, value-free descriptions of our cognitive structure, motives, values, social practices. It could be objected that this, in turn, prevents Husserlian phenomenology from properly taking account of the socio-historical conditions under which human action occurs and of the explanation of such actions offered by the social sciences.

Publication details

DOI: 10.1007/978-94-017-1767-0_15

Full citation:

(2002)., Human agency and the social sciences: from contextual phenomenology to genealogy, in B. Babich (ed.), Hermeneutic philosophy of science, van Gogh's eyes, and God, Dordrecht, Springer, pp. 187-194.

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