Double hermeneutic
What differentiates social sciences from natural sciences? One pestilence unique to the social sciences is the double hermeneutic.
The terms hermeneutics and exegesis are sometimes used interchangeably. Exegesis focuses primarily upon analyzing the word and grammar of texts. Hermeneutics is a wider discipline which includes written, verbal, and non-verbal[7][8] communication.
Modern hermeneutics includes both verbal and non-verbal communication[7][8] as well as semiotics, presuppositions, and pre-understandings. Hermeneutics has been broadly applied in the humanities, especially in law, history and theology.
The double hermeneutic is the theory, expounded by sociologist Anthony Giddens, that everyday "lay" concepts and those from the social sciences have a two-way relationship.[1] A common example is the idea of social class, a social-scientific category that has entered into wide use in society. Since the 1970s, held to be a distinguishing feature of the social sciences,[2] the double hermeneutic has become a criterion for demarcating the human/social from the natural sciences.
Anthony Giddens (1982) argues that there is an important difference between the natural and social sciences.[5] In the natural sciences, scientists try to understand and theorise about the way the natural world is structured. The understanding is one-way; that is, while we need to understand the actions of minerals or chemicals, chemicals and minerals don't seek to develop an understanding of us. He refers to this as the "single hermeneutic".