Wilhelm Dilthey (November 19, 1833–October 1, 1911) was a German historian, psychologist, sociologist, student of Hermeneutics, the study of interpretations and meanings, and a philosopher. He was inspired by the work of Friedrich Schleiermacher on hermeneutics, which had been neglected. They were both a part of the German Romanticism movement, and he could be considered a kind of empiricist. However, his empirical work was not precisely similar to British empiricism in its central epistemological assumptions. In the school of Romantic hermeneutics they stressed that an interpreter—not necessarily a Cartesian subject—could use insight, combined with cultural and historical context, to bring about truer understanding of a text. For dead writers this was especially true if there was an awareness of historical context. He was very interested in what we would call sociology today, although he strongly objected to being labelled a sociologist because the sociology of his day was mainly that of Auguste Comte and Herbert Spencer. He objected to their evolutionist assumptions about the necessary changes that all societal formations must go through. Also, the terms tended to be used as a kind of umbrella term, which is often still the case. Since the term sociology covered so much it had little analytical clarity. Comte's idea of Positivism was, according to Dilthey, one-sided and misleading. He did, however, have good things to say about Georg Simmel's versions of sociology. (Simmel was a colleague at the University of Berlin and Dilthey admired his work even though many academics were opposed to Simmel altogether, in part due to anti-Semitism and in part due to the fact that Simmel did not conform to the academic formalities of the day in some of his published work.) Dilthey also applied a label to the process of inquiry Schleiermacher had founded, naming it the Hermeneutic circle. The "general hermeneutics" that Schleiermacher suggested was a combination of the hermeneutics used to interpret Sacred Scriptures (e.g. the New Testament) and the hermeneutics used by Classicists. Dilthey saw its relevance for the Geisteswissenschaften. November 19 is the 323rd day of the year (324th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1833 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... October 1 is the 274th day of the year (275th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1911 (MCMXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar). ... Hermeneutics may be described as the theory of interpretation and understanding of a text through empirical means. ... A philosopher is a person who thinks deeply regarding people, society, the world, and/or the universe. ... Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher (November 21, 1768 - February 12, 1834) was a theologian and philosopher. ... In the philosophy, art, and culture of German-speaking countries, German Romanticism was the dominant cultural movement of much of the nineteenth century. ... Empiricism is generally regarded as being at the heart of the modern scientific method, that our theories should be based on our observations of the world rather than on intuition or faith; that is, empirical research and a posteriori inductive reasoning rather than purely deductive logic. ... Empiricism is generally regarded as being at the heart of the modern scientific method, that our theories should be based on our observations of the world rather than on intuition or faith; that is, empirical research and a posteriori inductive reasoning rather than purely deductive logic. ... Cartesian means of or relating to the French philosopher and mathematician René Descartes. ... Social interactions of people and their consequences are the subject of sociology studies. ... Auguste Comte Auguste Comte (full name Isidore Marie Auguste François Xavier Comte) (January 17 (recorded January 19), 1798 - September 5, 1857) was a French positivist thinker and came up with the term of sociology to name the new science made by Saint-Simon. ... Herbert Spencer. ... The expression umbrella term means a word that provides a superset or grouping of related concepts. ... Positivism can have several meanings. ... Georg Simmel Georg Simmel (March 1, 1858 – September 28, 1918) was one of the first generation of German sociologists. ... There is no institution called the University of Berlin, but there are four universities in Berlin, Germany: Humboldt University of Berlin (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) Technical University of Berlin (Technische Universität Berlin) Free University of Berlin (Freie Universität Berlin) Berlin University of the Arts (Universität der Künste Berlin) This is...

Distinction between sciences

He also strongly rejected using a model formed exclusively from the Naturwissenschaft ("Natural sciences") (in regard to hermeneutics) and instead proposed developing a separate model for the Geisteswissenschaften, the "human sciences" of philosophy, psychology, history, philology, sociology, etc. His argument centered around the idea that in the natural sciences, we only seek an explanation, a description of the concept; whereas in the human sciences, we (also) seek to understand. (In the social sciences we may also combine the two approaches, a point stressed by Max Weber.) His principles, he asserted, could be applied to all manner of interpretation ranging from ancient texts, to art work, to religious works, and even to the study of law. His interpretation of different theories of aesthetics in the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was preliminary to his speculations concerning the form aesthetic theory would take in the twentieth century. The term natural science as the way in which different fields of study are defined is determined as much by historical convention as by the present day meaning of the words. ... Hermeneutics may be described as the theory of interpretation and understanding of a text through empirical means. ... Maximilian Weber (April 21, 1864 – June 14, 1920) was a German political economist and sociologist who is considered one of the founders of the modern, antipositivistic study of sociology and public administration. ...

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Dilthey's ideas should be examined in terms of his similarities and differences with Wilhelm Windelband and Heinrich Rickert, members of the Baden School of Neo-Kantianism. Dilthey was not a Neo-Kantian in the strict sense, but he had a profound knowledge of Immanuel Kant's philosophy. Wilhelm Windelband (1848 - 1915) was a German philosopher of the Baden School. ... Heinrich John Rickert ( 25 May 1863 - 25 July 1936) was a German philosopher of the Baden School. ... Neo-Kantianism means a revived or modified type of philosophy along the lines of that laid down by Immanuel Kant in the eighteenth century. ... Neo-Kantianism means a revived or modified type of philosophy along the lines of that laid down by Immanuel Kant in the eighteenth century. ... It has been suggested that Kantianism be merged into this article or section. ...

H. A. Hodges provides one of the most accessible introduction in English. The Selected Works of Wilhelm Dilthey are being edited by Rudolf A. Makkreel and Frithjof Rodi. J. I. Hans Bakker has argued that Wilhelm Dilthey should be considered one of the classical sociological theorists because of his important role in discussing Verstehen and his influence on Interpretive Sociology generally. Verstehen (also known as Interpretative Sociology, German for understanding, pronounced as though it rhymes with fair-stain) was used by Max Weber to describe a process in which outside observers of a culture (such as anthropologists) relate to an indigenous people on the observers own terms. ...

See also

• Exegesis
• Hermeneutics
• Literary criticism
• Literary theory
• Romanticism
• Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
• John Stuart Mill