ABSTRACT

The following essay is based on the conviction that a better understanding of Ludwig Lachmann’s and Max Weber’s methodological views is vital for a proper interpretation of the methodological groundwork of the social sciences. Two key elements in Max Weber’s much debated and multifarious methodological legacy are the subjectivism of the method of understanding and the notion of ideal types. In what follows, I want to contrast and compare what I believe to be Weber’s authentic methodological position on these issues with Lachmann’s ideas about the subjectivism of the social sciences and his critique of Weber’s concept of ideal types.