A CONTRIBUTION TO THE INTERPRETATION OF THE DISPUTE OVER METHOD IN SOCIAL SCIENCES
A CONTRIBUTION TO THE INTERPRETATION OF THE DISPUTE OVER METHOD IN SOCIAL SCIENCES

Summary/Abstract: In this article we analyze the basic theoretical assumptions of participants in the Methodenstreit dispute. The opposing views of positivists and historists have been analyzed according to the key positivist rules set out by Kolakowski (1972): phenomenalism, nominalism, status of value judgements and unity of science. In particular, the main consequences of different understandings of the relationship between the methods of the natural and social sciences were discussed: a) understanding of the goal of the social sciences: comprehension and explanation, b) the possibility of discovering universal laws as opposed to contextual analysis of unique phenomena; c) the place of social sciences in the system of sciences. We point to the efforts of the representatives of both directions to affirm the knowledge possibilities of the social sciences, but with different perceptions of the direction of the development of the social sciences - towards conquering the external or internal world.

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