PS398 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Wilhelm Dilthey, Emic And Etic, Positivism
Document Summary
An alternative to the received view or positivist paradigm. In contrast to postivism"s naive realism (single objective external reality), constructivism adheres to a relativist position that assumeds multiple, apprehendable, and equally valid realities. Reality is constructed in the mind of the individual. Hermeneutical approach: meaning is hidden and must be brought to the surface through deep reflection. Reflection can be stimulated by interactive researcher-participant dialogue. Distinguishing characteristic is centrality of interaction between investigator and object of investigation, and researcher and participants co-construct findings from their interactive dialogue and interpretation. Qualitative research and the seeds of constructivism-interpretivism can be traced to kant"s. Central tenet of constructivist thinking: you cannot partition out an objective reality from the person (research participant) who is experiencing, processing, and labeling the reality. Dilthey, influenced by kant, made distinction between naturwissenschaft (natural science) and geisteswissenschaft (human science) to distinguish positivistic and constructivistic stances. Goal of geisteswissenschaft is understanding of the meaning of social phenomena.
