Dilthey’s “Verstehen” Sociology, Philosophy of Culture, and Ethics

Abstract

Wilhelm Dilthey lived from 1833 until 1911. He became a professor of philosophy at the University of Berlin in 1882, after having been professor at the universities of Basel (since 1866), Kiel (since 1868), and Breslau (since 1871). In his 1883 book, Introduction to the Human Studies (Einleitung in die Geisteswissenschaften, Dilthey, 1883), he sets out to create a secure methodical base for those academic disciplines outside of the natural sciences which he calls Geisteswissenschaften, and to which we refer here as Human Studies. He is of the opinion that this epistemological project must be prepared by looking at and thinking through the history of philosophy from a new perspective.