ABSTRACT
Charles Taylor's paper is one of the most frequently cited and reprinted English-language essays advocating an interpretive approach to the social sciences. About a decade after "Interpretation and the Sciences of Man", appeared, Taylor published several more papers on the philosophy of the social sciences. Taylor's intersubjective meanings connect in interesting ways with the position of Verstehen theorists previously considered. Despite the importance of Taylor's article, the interpretive approach that he presents has serious problems. First, the scope of the social sciences as Taylor conceives of it is too narrow and excludes important questions that social science has been and should be concerned with. Second, despite what Taylor says, objective interpretations seem possible. Third, Taylor's theory is restrictive in still another way: It requires that social scientists use theoretical concepts that at least indirectly relate to the understanding of the social actors.
