ABSTRACT
Max Weber's methodological writings are usually characterised as effecting reconciliation between positivist and Neo-Kantian positions. This is not particularly misleading so long as it is remembered that Neo-Kantianism was a diverse movement, some tendencies within which had already made substantial philosophical concessions to positivism. For Weber, action as such is not the object of sociological understanding, but rather a sub-class of actions: social actions. Social action, Weber says, is action 'which takes account of the behaviour of others and is thereby oriented in its course'. Solitary prayer, for Weber, is an example of meaningful action which is not social. Peter Winch argues against this distinction that all action is necessarily social. This is because, Winch argues, the rules governing such action must be publicly recognisable. For both Winch and Weber, the concept of verstehen refers primarily to the spontaneous and immediate recognition of acts and their meanings in everyday life.
