Topic 3 Methodological & Epistemological Foundations of Historical-Hermeneutic Studies

1. Topic 3Methodological & Epistemological Foundations of Historical-Hermeneutic Studies 北京师范大学研究生课程 教育研究的基础：方法论、知识论及本体论

2. Willhelm Dilthey’s conception of the human sciences: “We owe to Dilthey …that the natural sciences and the human sciences are characterized by two scientificity, two methodologies, two epistemologies.” (Ricoeur, 1991/1973, p. 275) The Essentials of the Methodology of Qualitative Research

3. Wilhelm Dilthey’s Introduction to the Human Sciences (1923) (1833-1911)

4. Willhelm Dilthey’s conception of the human sciences: … Dilthey in his classical work Introduction to the Human Sciences (1991/1883) underlines that “The sum of intellectual facts which fall under the notion of science is usually divided into two groups, one marked by the name ‘natural science’; for the other, oddly enough, there is no generally accepted designation. I subscribe to the thinkers who call this other half of the intellectual world the ‘human sciences’ (Geisteswissenschaften or translated as ‘the sciences of the mind’)” (Dilthey, 1991, p. 78) The Essentials of the Methodology of Qualitative Research

5. Willhelm Dilthey’s conception of the human sciences: … “The motivation behind the habit of seeing these sciences as a unity in contrast with those of nature derives from the depth and fullness of human self-consciousness. … A man finds in this self-consciousness a sovereignty of will, a responsibility for actions, a capacity for subordinating everything to thought and for resisting any foreign element in the citadel of freedom in his person: by these things he distinguishes himself from all of nature. He finds himself with respect to nature an imperium in imperio.” (Dilthey, 1991, p.79) The Essentials of the Methodology of Qualitative Research

6. Clifford Geertz's conception of culture and its interpretation Geertz in his classical work The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays (1973) underlines that “The concept of culture I espouse … is essentially a semiotic one. Believing, with Max Weber, that man is an animal suspended in webs of significance he himself has spun. I take culture to be those webs, and the analysis of it to be therefore not an experimental science in search of law but an interpretative one in research of meaning.” (Geertz, 1994/1973, P. 214) The Essentials of the Methodology of Qualitative Research

7. Clifford Geertz's conception of culture and its interpretation (1973) (1926-2006)

8. Clifford Geertz's conception of culture and its interpretation “Culture is most effectively treated …purely as a symbolic system …by isolating its elements, specifying the internal relationship among those elements, and then characterizing the whole system in some general way  according to the core symbols around which it is organized, the underlying structures of which it is a surface expression, or the ideological principles upon which it is based.” (Geertz, 1994/1973, p. 222) The Essentials of the Methodology of Qualitative Research

9. Max Weber’s conception of sociology and social research Max Weber’s oft-quoted definition of the subject matter of sociology and that of social sciences in general stipulates that "Sociology is a science concerning itself with interpretive understanding of social action in order thereby to arrive at a causal explanation of its course and consequence. We shall speak of 'action' insofar as the acting individual attaches a subjective meaning to his behavior. …Action is 'social' insofar as its subjective meaning takes account of the behavior of others and is thereby oriented in its course." (Weber, 1978, p. 4) The Essentials of the Methodology of Qualitative Research

10. (1864-1920)

11. Max Weber’s conception of sociology and social research …. This definition has generated three methodological aproia for students of sociology and social sciences to tackle with for generations to come. First, it has stipulated that in studying human actions the major concerns is to provide “interpretive understanding” of the “subjective meanings” underlying each and every “actions”. This has constituted the basic research question for qualitative research in social sciences. The Essentials of the Methodology of Qualitative Research

12. Max Weber’s conception of … Second, the definition has also stipulate another aporia to students in social sciences. That is, given human actions are endowed with subjective meanings, how can two actions be oriented into a mutually acceptable social action? Furthermore, one can continue to ask how society and culture be possible in maintaining these varieties of social actions in stable and continuous manner through time and across considerable spatial distance? The Essentials of the Methodology of Qualitative Research

13. Max Weber’s conception of … Third, the definition has also generated yet another aporia by stipulating the social researchers should also render “causal explanation” for the “course” and “consequence” of the human action under study. This seems to be a statement of a typical research question for quantitative researchers. In other words, Weber seems to expect his followers to bridge the gap between quantitative and qualitative approaches to social research. The Essentials of the Methodology of Qualitative Research

14. Max Weber’s conception of … In fact, both Alfred Schutz (1967/1932) and Jurgen Habermas (1988/1967) specifically began their books with the same quotation of Weber’s definition of sociology and try to resolve the aporia set forth in it. The Essentials of the Methodology of Qualitative Research

15. Jurgen Habermas in his book On the Logics of Social Sciences (1988/1967) has suggested there are generally three approaches to the studies of the subjective meanings of human and social actions. They are The social phenomenological approach The linguistic approach The hermeneutic approach The Essentials of the Methodology of Qualitative Research

17. Phenomenology as a school of thought in modern philosophy was established at the beginning of the twentieth century mainly under the leadership and efforts of Edmund Husserl, a German philosopher. However, it was Alfred Schutz’s work (1967/1932) and the work of two of his “students”, Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann (1966), which have brought the phenomenological conceptions of meaning to the studies of social action and social world. The Conception of Meanings in Social Phenomenological Perspective

18. In his now-classic work, The Phenomenology of Social World, Schutz begins his inquiry with a critique on Weber’s conception of subjective meanings in human actions. He stipulates that by applying the concepts forged by phenomenologists in philosophy can help to resolve these vagueness in understanding the subjective meanings in human actions. And he has then constructed the framework social-meaning formation with the following constituent concepts of social phenomenology. The Conception of Meanings in Social Phenomenological Perspective

19. (1899-1959)

20. Formation of individual subjective meanings: Weber’s aporia No. 1 To account for the formation of subjective meanings of individuals, Schutz introduces the following concepts of phenomenological philosophy to social sciences. The Conception of Meanings in Social Phenomenological Perspective

21. Formation of individual subjective meanings: … Stream of consciousness: According to phenomenologists, most notably Hernri Bergson, human beings are not only living within the world of discrete and concrete space and time, but also in the stream of consciousness. It is within this stream of consciousness that a man would grant his attention and intention to an object in reality (or ‘the world’) and elevate some of them to become a “phenomenon” within one’s subjectivity. And Husserl has labelled this fundamental inter-connection between consciousness and objects in reality the ‘intentioanlity’. The Conception of Meanings in Social Phenomenological Perspective

22. Formation of individual subjective meanings: … The concept of intentionality: “The term ‘intentionality’ is taken from the Latin intendere, which translates as ‘to stretch forth’.” It indicates the process of how the mind “stretching forth” into the world and “grasping” and “translating” an object into a phenomenon. (Spinelli, 2005, p.15) The Conception of Meanings in Social Phenomenological Perspective

23. Formation of individual subjective meanings: … The concept of intentionality: … The process of intentionality has been differentiated by Husserl into two components, namely noema and noesis. The concept of noema (intentional-object) indicates the objects being intended to, conscious of and grasped, i.e. the what; The concept of noesis (intentional-Act) refers to the act of intending, stretching forth and bringing to consciousness, i.e. the how. The Conception of Meanings in Social Phenomenological Perspective

24. Formation of individual subjective meanings: … Concepts of perception, retention and reproduction: Perception: It refers to the “now-apprehension” granted to an experience by human minds during the immediate encounter. Retention: It refers to the “primary remembrance” or “primary impression” of an experience formed within the “after-consciousness” of the encounter. Reproduction: It refers to the “secondary remembrance or recollection” that emerges after primary remembrance is past. “We accomplish it either by simply laying hold of what is recollected … or we accomplish it in a real, re-productive, recapitulative memory in which the temporal object is again completely built up in a continuum of presentifications, so that we seem to perceive it again, but only seemingly, as-if.” (Husserl, 1964, quoted in Schutz, 1967, p. 48) The Conception of Meanings in Social Phenomenological Perspective

25. Formation of individual subjective meanings: … The concept of behavior (Meaning-endowing experiences): Husserl makes a distinction between two types of experiences “Experience of the first type are merely ‘undergone’ or ‘suffer’.’ They are characterized by a basic passivity. Experiences of the second type consist of attitudes taken toward experiences of the first type.” Husserl characterized those experiences endowed with ‘attitude-taking Act’ as ‘behavior’. Accordingly, “Behavior is a meaning-endowing experience of consciousness.” (Schutz, 1967, p. 56) The Conception of Meanings in Social Phenomenological Perspective

26. Formation of individual subjective meanings: … The concept of Action and Project: According to Schutz and Husserl, we can further distinguish behavior from action. The former are experiences endowed with attitudes, while the latter are experiences oriented towards the future. Most specifically, actions are experiences endowed with anticipation, which Husserl has characterized as “the meaning of what will be perceived.” (Husserl, 1931, quoted in Schutz, 1967, p. 58) The Conception of Meanings in Social Phenomenological Perspective

27. Formation of individual subjective meanings: … The concept of Action and Project: … Furthermore, apart from anticipation of the future, actions are also experiences endowed with another form of intentionality, namely intention of fulfillment. More specifically, actions are not only made up of anticipated goals or “empty protention” to the future. They also consist of the parts of intentions to attaining those goals in the future. In conclusion, according to Schutz formulation, an action is experiences endowed with meanings in the form of “a project”, which consists of anticipated goals and intentions and efforts to fulfill them. The Conception of Meanings in Social Phenomenological Perspective

28. Formation of individual subjective meanings: … In summary, by applying these concepts to Weber’s stipulation of understanding of subjective meanings in human actions, Schutz asserts confidently that …. The Conception of Meanings in Social Phenomenological Perspective

29. Formation of individual subjective meanings: … “Now we are in a position to state that what distinguishes action from behavior is that action is the execution of a projected act. And we can immediately proceed to our next step: the meaning of any action is its corresponding projected act. In saying this we are giving clarity to Max Weber’s vague concept of the “orientation of the action.” “An action, we submit, is oriented toward its corresponding projected act.” (Schutz, 1967, p. 61) That is resolution to Weber’s aporia No. 1. The Conception of Meanings in Social Phenomenological Perspective

30. Configuration of meaning-context of individuals: Schutz’s theory building about subjective meanings of individuals does not stop here. He further put forth two concepts. The concept of Durée: … The Conception of Meanings in Social Phenomenological Perspective

31. Configuration of meaning-context … The concept of Durée: Henri Bergson has coined the concept ‘durée’ to specify the inner stream of duration constituted within human consciousness. It refers to, as Husserl characterized, the types of experiences, that human minds would “transverse” (translate or transform) into “intentional unities”, within which “immanent time is constituted, …an authentic time in which there is duration, and alteration of that which endures.” (Husserl, 1964; quoted in Schutz, 1967, p. 46) The Conception of Meanings in Social Phenomenological Perspective

32. Configuration of meaning-context … The concept of meaning-context: By meaning-context, Schutz characterized it as follows “Let us define meaning-context formally: We say that our lived experience E1, E2, …, En, stand in a meaning-context if and only if, once they have been lived through in separate steps, they are then constituted into a synthesis of a high order, becoming thereby unified objects of monothetic attention.” (Schutz, 1967, p.75) Schutz indicates that meaning-context derived within one’s inner time consciousness bears numbers of structural features. (Schutz, 1967, p. 74-78) The Conception of Meanings in Social Phenomenological Perspective

33. Configuration of meaning-context … The concept of meaning-context: …. bears numbers of structural features. Unity: Though intentional acts and/or fulfillment-act various meaning-endowing experiences are unified and integrated into coherent whole within the Ego. Hence, meaning-context generated from meaning-endowing experiences also bears the internal structure of unity and coherence. Continuity: As lived experiences are set within the stream of consciousness of duration (i.e. Durée), therefore, the meaning-context thereby derived is internally structured into a continuity of temporal ordering. The Conception of Meanings in Social Phenomenological Perspective

34. Configuration of meaning-context … The concept of meaning-context: …. bears numbers of structural features. … Hierarchy: Through her lived experiences in different spheres of the life-world, individual will congifurated various meaning-contexts for lived experiences in various spheres of life. And these complex meaning-contexts are structured in hierarchical order according to their degree of meaningfulness and significance. The Conception of Meanings in Social Phenomenological Perspective

35. Internal time consciousness Durée Phenomenological conceptual framework of meaning Action Anticipation & fulfillment Meaning-context #n of unity and continuity Subjective Meanings Behavior Attitude-taking Act Hierarchy Reproduction, Retention, Perception Meaning-context #1 of unity and continuity Stream of consciousness (Intentionality) Intentional object The subject Intentional-Act

36. Formation of social meanings: Weber’s aporia No. 2 As a practicing sociologist, Alfred Schutz’s major contribution to phenomenological studies is to extend the study of human consciousness and experiences from individual level to social level. Built on phenomenological investigations of meaning-configurations and meaning-contexts of individuals, Schutz poses the following series of questions: How meaning-configurations among individuals are possible? …… The Conception of Meanings in Social Phenomenological Perspective

37. Formation of social meanings: Weber’s aporia No. 2 …..More specifically, how meanings among different inner consciousness of durations are able to be corresponded, shared or even come to consensus? And how individual thinking and acting beings come to act harmoniously, concertedly and cooperatively into a social entity? The Conception of Meanings in Social Phenomenological Perspective

38. Formation of social meanings…. Schutz’s concepts of meaning-context of the social world Schutz suggests that constructions of social meanings within a human aggregate are possible simply because members of a “society” share common “lived” experiences generated from common temporal and spatial situations. These common lived experiences have then been accumulated geographically, historically, verbally and textually into a “totality” of meaning-configuration and meaning-contexts, which we now called the culture or what Berger and Luckmann called symbolic universe. Based on commonly-share culture, Schutz has differentiated the process of meaning-construction into three types The Conception of Meanings in Social Phenomenological Perspective

39. Formation of social meanings…. Social meaning construction in face-to-face relationship The primary base of mutual understanding between two humans in face-to-face situation is that there are two inner consciousnesses of durations who share similar if not the same temporal-spatial flows, that is, each is conscious of the other’s presence. In short, each takes the other as intentional-object (noema) of her intentional-Act (noesis) and vice versa. Expressive movement and expressive act: They refer to non-verbal gestures (body movements) which indicate the “attitudinal-Act” of an individual implicates to an subjective experience which she undergoes. Schutz has further differentiates them into The Conception of Meanings in Social Phenomenological Perspective

40. Formation of social meanings…. Social meaning construction in face-to-face relationship …. Expressive movement and expressive act: …. Schutz has further differentiates them into Expressive movement: It refers to gestures which bears no communicative intention from the part of the initiator. As Schutz states “expressive movements … have meaning only for the observer, not for the person observed.” (Schutz, 1967, p. 117) Expressive act: It refers to body movements “in which the actor seeks to project outward the content of his consciousness, whether to retain the latter for his own use later on (as in the case of an entry in a dairy) or to communicate them to others.” (Schutz, 1967, p. 116) The Conception of Meanings in Social Phenomenological Perspective

41. Formation of social meanings…. Social meaning construction in face-to-face relationship …. Sign and sign system: “Signs are artifacts or act-objects which are interpreted not according to those interpretive schemes which are adequate to them as objects of the external world but according to schemes not adequate to them and belong rather to other object.” (Schutz, 1967, p. 120) In constructing a sign, the actor undertakes the act of signification, that is, to assign a sign to an object in the external world. …. The Conception of Meanings in Social Phenomenological Perspective

42. Formation of social meanings…. Social meaning construction in face-to-face relationship …. Sign and sign system: …. As on the part of the reader of the sign, she has to undertake an act of interpretation, which has been defined as the core activities that qualitative researchers have to undertake. Spoken and written signs in a language are the exemplary representations of sign used by human kind. Accordingly, sign system refers to well established, widely used, and universally interpreted signs disseminating and communicating among members of a defined human aggregate; for instance, language systems of Chinese, English, etc. The Conception of Meanings in Social Phenomenological Perspective

43. Formation of social meanings…. Social meaning construction in face-to-face relationship …. Concept of externalization and objectification: The concept of externalization of subjectivity: It is within a sign system, i.e. a culture and/or a cultural system, that subjective experiences and consciousnesses of individuals can be externalized and communicate to other members of the corresponding language and/or cultural system. The concept of objectification of subjectivity: By externalizing one’s subjectivity onto concrete artifacts, subjectivity of mortal individual has then obtained endeavoring existence of its own, which may out-live the originating person. The Conception of Meanings in Social Phenomenological Perspective

44. Phenomenological conceptual framework of social meaning Cultural system Durée Durée Sign systems Signs Objectifications Externalizations Express Acts Intentionality Express Movements Intentionality

45. Formation of social meanings…. Social-meaning construction with the contemporaries As individuals move farther and farther apart, such as residents in a metropolitan such as Hong Kong, fellow citizens of a nation such as PRC, members of a “nation” such as the Chinese, dwellers of the same continent such as the Asians, fellow residents of the global village, how can they come to shared meanings? The Conception of Meanings in Social Phenomenological Perspective

46. Formation of social meanings…. Social-meaning …contemporaries… Concepts of ideal type and typification: As contemporaries, who are located in physically long distance which does not enable them to have face-to-face confirmation of their meanings to their counterparts, they have to then presume and rely on the ideal-typical interpretive schema generated and established in so-called “institutional contexts”. For examples, the ideal-typical role-performances prescribed to teachers and students in modern educational institutions; ideal-typical role-performances presumed by both the husband and the wife in the marriage institution; or sellers and buyers in international trade or cyber-transactions. The act of prescribing ideal-typical roles and their corresponding role-performances to partners in interaction has been characterized by Schutz and his followers as “typification”. The Conception of Meanings in Social Phenomenological Perspective

47. Formation of social meanings…. Social-meaning …contemporaries… Accordingly, the concepts of institution and institutionalization have been reformulated and used by followers of Alfred Schuts, such as Berger and Luckmann, and advocates of New-institutionalism in qualitative researches in social sciences in recent decades. (To be explicated on Topic 5 &6) The Conception of Meanings in Social Phenomenological Perspective

48. Formation of social meanings…. Social-meaning construction with the predecessors To come to agreement with the deaths: When the meaning configurations are constructed in remotely temporal distance and the text and relics, it poses insurmountable difficulties to researchers who are supposed to retrieve the “authentic” meanings because the interpretive findings can no longer be confirmed with their “authors”. The situation has been characterized by Ricoeur (1984) as the most acute example of Kant’s demarcation between noumenon and phenomenon, that historians can never bridge the past in itself from the historical texts and relics. The Conception of Meanings in Social Phenomenological Perspective

49. Formation of social meanings…. Social-meaning construction with the predecessors …. Schutz suggests that historians, who are to “reconstruct” the meaning configurations of the deaths, have to presume the notion of the stream of history in parallel to the streams of consciousness, social institutions and cultural system and to strive to constitute the “fusion of horizons” across times. Most specifically, as Paul Ricoeur underlines, historians are expected to be able to muster kinds of “sympathetic efforts” and “temporal imagination”, that is, to project “not merely an imaginative projection into another present but a real projection into another human life.” (Ricoeur, 1984, p. 28) The Conception of Meanings in Social Phenomenological Perspective

50. Formation of social meanings…. Taking together all the concepts relating to the formation of social meanings in face-to-face situations, with contemporaries across space, and predecessors across times, we may conclude that Schutz with his students Berger and Luckmann have rendered a resolution to Weber’s aporia No. 2. The Conception of Meanings in Social Phenomenological Perspective