ABSTRACT
In recent years, hermeneutics as a style of thought has captured the imagination of bold minds and made its impact on a number of disciplines for which it seems to hold a promise of exciting departures. Economics has thus far not been among them. This is the more remarkable since in Germany, at least before the First World War-in the years when the Methodenstreit was petering out-the merits of the method of Verstehen, backed by the authority of Max Weber, were widely discussed.
