ABSTRACT
The developments in European social thought to which I wish to call attention involve a revitalization of the notion of verstehen in the context of the latter-day evolution of the Geisteswissenschaften. In Germany, this centres above all upon the work of Hans-Georg Gadamer, which in turn draws extensively upon Heidegger's 'hermeneutic phenomenology'. But Gadamer's writings demonstrate dear connections and overlaps with the work of such authors as Winch in Britain and Ricoeur in France. 1 In this brief paper, I shall not attempt to single out the distinctive views of such authors, but only to characterize certain notions arising from them - ones that contrast rather radically with those embodied in Max Weber's version of 'interpretative sociology', which more than any other has served to introduce the concept of verstehen into English-spcaking sociology. More qualifications are in order with respect to 'ethnomethodology' - already a tenn, of course, that embraces a number of mutually dissident views. What I have to say is not directed at Garfinkel's programme of practical studies of 'everyday accomplishments', which seems to me at once deeply interesting and poorly elucidated philosophically. All I want to do is to take hold of a few ideas expressed in the writings of Garfinkel and others which parallel those emanating from the very much more abstract traditions of European social philosophy.2
