anthropology

critique of historical reason

erlebnis

erlebnis - ehrfahrung

experience

explanation

external realm of the mind

fixed life expressions

Geisteswissenschaften

hermeneutics

historical consciousness

ideal type

interpretation

life

life-nexus

lived experience

logical subjects of history

meaning

naturwissenschaft

reflexive awareness

understanding

nationality

German

occupation / innovator as

historian

philosopher

psychologist

sociologist

university professor

University of Berlin

innovator in the field of

phenomenology

philosophy

psychology

intellectual movement

Western philosophy

theologian

pedagogue

literary critic

university teacher

scientific organization

Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences

Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities

cause of death

natural causes

understanding psychology

intellectual history

continental philosopher

is an investigation into man which, rather than viewing him through psychological and physiological processes, takes the human being to be a spiritual being. The idea is that 'structures' of this being make themselves available to research.

Dilthey had still another description of this science, which shows more clearly what was at issue for him: anthropology. He was not seeking to observe psychological processes side by side with physiological ones... rather, his theme was the human being as a spiritual being, and it was the structures of this being that he wanted to research. This also is the meaning of the definition: empirical psychology. (heidegger 'struggle' : 156)

is irrational, and we understand the expressions of life that surround us to the degree to which we can show how they emerge from lived experience.

is a distinction referring to two modes of experience. Ehrlebnis is 'life experience' and connotes adventure and event. Ehrfahrung, by contrast, suggests a more profound kind of discovery and learning, and also suffering and undergoing.

Erlebnis, translated here as 'subjective exeperience' and later as 'life-experience,' is a term much used by life philosophers such as Dilthey and generally connotes adventure and event. It is employed somewhat pejoratively here. The term Erfahrung, which is regularly translated in this volume as 'experience,' connotes discovery and learning, and also suffering and undergoing. Here and subsequently (i.e., 'mere religious experience'). 'mere' is inserted to maintain the distinction between Erlebnis and Erfahrung. (Heidegger 'Age of the World picture' :116n).

is defined in such a way that every 'unit of experience' is given to an individual's awareness with a certain structure.

Dilthey holds that every distinct 'unit of experience' is given to an individual's awareness with a certain structure, which is not merely the result of the categorical impositions of the human mind (Turner, 1982: 13).

is a model of intelligibility borrowed from the natural sciences and applied to the historical disciplines by positivist schools. 'Interpretation' on the other hand, is a derivative form of understanding.

Because of this distinction between the natural sciencesand the human sciences, Dilthey declared that the researchmethods must be different. 'Nature we can explain, buthumans we must understand' (Smith, 2002, p. 187). ForDilthey, 'explanation' referred to the model of intelligibilityborrowed from the natural sciences and applied to thehistorical disciplines by positivist schools. 'Interpretation'on the other hand, was a derivative form of understanding,which Dilthey regarded as the fundamental attitude of thehuman sciences and which alone can preserve thefundamental difference between these sciences and the

is not merely a question of one person trying to understand another, rather, it is based on common human sympathy and common human experience.

For Dilthey, hermeneutics is based on common human sympathy and common human experience. It is not merely a question of one person trying to understand another the entire hermeneutic experience is more complex than that. People help each other understand life better.

is not simply concerned with reading texts but with reading all meaningful human action. Hermeneutic principles lay at the basis of all the historical sciences.

Dilthey broadened the scope of hermeneutic theory to cover all meaningful human action. In his view hermeneutic principles lay at the basis of all the historical sciences (Lahore, 1986)

is a methodological approach whereby the most typical or most complete features of a phenomenon used in order to facilitate comparison and analysis.

Methodological approach developed by Dilthey. Involves the development of the usual, typical, or most complete features of a phenomenon in order to facilitate comparison and analysis. Weber stressed that ideal types were 'one-sided' and 'partial' descriptions of reality. (net)

is the artful understanding of life manifestations objectified in written form.

the artful understanding of life manifestations objectified in written form' (Dilthey 1973: 217, trans. by the

is a concept whose question primarily concerns its conceptualization.

Dilthey's basic question concerns the concept of life. This question about the concept of life is one about the conceptualizing of life. Thus it is necessary to first (155) gain an originary access to life in order then to grasp it conceptually. (heidegger 'struggle' : 156)

is irrational because life is irrational.

A key concept introduced by Dilthey was that of Erlebnis, or 'lived experience'. Human understanding is a category of life and we are surrounded by the expressions of life. We understand them to the degree to which we can show how they emerge from lived experience (Erlebnis). He believed that 'all understanding contains something irrational because life is irrational' (Dilthey, 1927/1985).

is always understood in the light of a given context, i.e., a specific place and time.

For Dilthey, meaning is always contextual, so we must understand in the light of a given context, i.e., a specific place and time. Dilthey's notion of the hermeneutical circle is, like Schleiermacher's, informed by the reciprocity of whole and parts. (Hermeneutics: An Introduction to Interpretive TheoryBy Stanley E. Porter, Jason C. Robinson401)

is found in the relation of a part to the whole.

For Dilthey, meaning is found in the relation of a part to the whole... his achievement is in identifying a thought of life that is, historical, generative life that fills the role of the meaning-giving whole without ignoring the natal impulse.

is not subjective... it is not projection of thought or thinking onto the object... it is a perception of a real relationship within a nexus prior to the subject-object separation in thought.

For Dilthey, 'Meaning is not subjective... it is not projection of thought or thinking onto the object... it is a perception of a real relationship within a nexus prior to the subject-object separation in thought.' ('')

is not ultimately an intellectual relationship... it is not simply a rational process. 'Meaning is obtained from life itself.'.

For Dilthey, meaning is not ultimately an intellectual relationship... it is not simply a rational process. 'Meaning is obtained from life itself.'

is the most basic category in human life, marked by the sense in which something is understood as the relation that obtains between parts and wholes.

For Dilthey, meaning is the most basic and inclusive, the most pervasive and important category of human life. For the most part Dilthey used the term 'meaning' as the sense in which something is understood as a related aggregate of parts, or the relation that obtains between parts and wholes. All meanings for him exist as parts of more inclusive systems of meaning.

is, for the cultural sciences, what explanation is for the natural sciences. One can only know the products of human action by looking for meaning, not causes.

For Dilthey, understanding is for the cultural sciences what explanation is for the natural sciences. One can only know the products of human action by looking for meaning, not causes. Hermeneutics aims to make clear what is involved in understanding.'

is not a purely cognitive matter but life grasping life in and through a full and rich contact that escapes rational theorizing.

For Dilthey, understanding is not a purely cognitive matter but life grasping life in and through a full and rich contact that escapes rational theorizing.

 always contains something irrational because life is irrational.

is understanding the expressions of life. These expressions are not only signs and symbols but the manifestations of psychic content that are themselves 'deep' and not simply surface.

For Dilthey, understanding is understanding the expressions of life. These expressions are not only signs and symbols but the manifestations of psychic content that are themselves 'deep' and not simply surface.

Wilhelm Dilthey

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Wilhelm Dilthey