ABSTRACT
Dilthey's place in modern intellectual history is securely planted, interestingly enough, no less in Latin America than in his native Germany. It is surprising that little interpretive literature exists on Dilthey's social theories, since the real core of Dilthey's novelty inheres in his ambitious redefinition of the character and structure of social science vis-a-vis philosophy and physics. Dilthey's contribution to the sociology of knowledge proceeded from a critique of sociological method as it was originally formulated by Auguste Comte. Dilthey conceived his intellectual task to offset any attempt at mimetic reproduction of the methodology of the physical or biological sciences. Dilthey's attitude toward the weaknesses of supernaturalism derived, not from naturalistic leanings, but rather from the mystical components that were the special hallmark of the German Aufklarung. In Dilthey's opinion, philosophy as Weltanschauung evens the battle against all sorts of reductionist tendencies.
