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Zusammenfassung In this first volume of a projected trilogy! the author argues that a methodology adequate to solve the long-standing debate over the status of the social as against the natural sciences can be constructed in terms of a fourhold distinction between the reportage! explanation! description and evaluation of human behaviour. Inhaltsverzeichnis Preface; Part I. Introduction: The Nature of Social Theory: 1. Social theory as science; 2. The concept of understanding; 3. Analysis of actions; 4. Two kinds of value-judgement; 5. The problem of reflexivity; 6. Conclusion; Part II. Reportage in Social Theory: 7. The practice of primary understanding; 8. The choice of terms; 9. The bounds of reportage; 10. Sub-types and variants; 11. Definition and classification; 12. Inference within reportage; 13. Conclusion; Part III. Explanation in Social Theory: 14. Theory-making and secondary understanding; 15. The grounding of hypotheses; 16. Interpreting weak but adequate theories; 17. Varieties of causes; 18. Goals, functions and evolution; 19. Conclusion; Part IV. Description in Social Theory: 20. Tertiary understanding; 21. Authenticity and its opposites; 22. Putting descriptions across; 23. The uses of analogy and detail; 24. Conceptualization and narration; 25. The relation of description to evaluation; 26. How good can descriptions hope to be? 27. Conclusion; Part V. Evaluation in Social Theory: 28. The inescapability of evaluation; 29. Benevolence as a presupposition; 30. forms of misevaluation; 31. Appealing to the 'facts'; 32. Evaluation without pre-emption; 33. Theory-neutral uses of evaluative terms; 34. Conclusion; Index.
