%0 Journal Article
%T Social Ontology and Varieties of Interpretation: A Hermeneutic Critique of Searle
%A Hans-Herbert K£¿gler
%J Philosophy of the Social Sciences
%@ 1552-7441
%D 2018
%R 10.1177/0048393117742336
%X The essay probes the limits of social ontology as a grounding project for interpretation and explanation in the social sciences. The argument proceeds by challenging the exemplary and influential ontology of John Searle by means of Jim Bohman¡¯s hermeneutic approach. While both share the interest in establishing the validity basis of social-scientific claims, Bohman reconstructs in this regard the situated standpoint of the hermeneutic interpreter, in contrast to Searle¡¯s building block approach to social reality. A careful analysis of Bohman¡¯s argumentation reveals the need for differentiating a variety of interpretive stances, which leads back to important revisions of the intentionality-based social ontology of Searle. The discussion results in the need to ground methodological pluralism in a universal hermeneutics of interpretive capabilities to safeguard the social sciences against relativistic as well as metaphysical challenges
%K interpretation
%K intentionality
%K methodological pluralism
%K hermeneutics
%K Bohman
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0048393117742336