ABSTRACT
Natural sciences explain, human sciences understand. Thus ran the proclamation of the German historian Gustav Droysen in 1858 and, thanks to the philosophical writings of Wilhelm Dilthey, it has been a credal tenet of scholars ever since. The category of meaningful objects includes such things as words, pictures, texts, acts and persons. Such are the items that are the materials of the humanities. Interpretation is endemic to natural science. At least four levels may be identified at which representation plays an important part in the description of the world, and at which interpretation would, if necessary, be able to forge connections to whatever is being represented. Natural science may be regarded as an exact ontological account of what exists in the world and the principles governing it. No doubt there will be readers who are ready to concede that interpretation is a feature of both natural science and of human science.
