实证主义和解释主义秉承着不同的方法论。虽然不准确,但是用一个对比可以让你快速有个基本概念,那就是唯心论和唯物论的不同。
实证主义是在“科学万能”的大背景下发展起来的,反对形而上的推理空谈。他们认为万物的关系,科学的实质的知识是不以人的意志为转移的,客观存在的。研究者的工作是去揭露真实和真理。代表人物就是法国的孔德。
解释主义多用在社会科学,也就是涉及到人的科学。由于人和人的群体是变化的(人多聪明多鸡贼啊),没有客观存在一成不变的“事实”,因此社会科学的研究者首要就是理解:不同的概念,想法,研究的语言都会影响研究者对所研究的社会现象的认知。解释主义是唯心论的分支。解释主义认为没有绝对的客观,所谓的知识,是作为主体的人理解出来的(这一点上与建构主义有共识)。
解释主义(又可称为反实证主义)者,也就是我们做社会科学的,认为后实证主义太古板:他们缺乏对于人类在互动上的细微而多样变化的理解和捕捉。
换成大白话说:人多善变啊,人性啊,科学家们。
相反,解释主义者更多从主观的个人的经历和感受找到和研究的含义。解释主义者认为,绝对的客观的研究是做不到的。哪个科学界来的人如果不服,一通深入的质问就能完全改变他的理论基础。相反,很多解释主义者的方法是把自己置身于要研究的场景中;他们使用比如--注意了下面是能听懂的话了-- 他们使用访谈或者观察或者座谈会等。
归纳地(而不是推理地),解释主义者在既定的社会环境中,从一群他与之互动的人中建立他的理论。
加持解释主义的哲学理论包括解释论,现象论,符号互动论。
下面是维基百科的原版解释,时间宽裕的同学可以自行阅读。
In social science, antipositivism (also interpretivism and negativism) proposes that the social realm cannot be studied with the scientific method of investigation applied to the natural world; investigation of the social realm requires a different epistemology. From that philosophic perspective, antipositivism proposes that social-science researchers first must be aware that the concepts, ideas, and language of research shape his or her perceptions of the social world under investigation.
Interpretivism (anti-positivism) grew out of a movement of researchers who began rejecting the tenets of post-positivism. For interpretive theorists, post-positive theories are too general; they lack the ability to capture the nuance and variability found in human interaction. Rather, interpretivists are more likely to draw meaning from the subjective experiences of individuals engaging in social interaction. Interpretivists believe that conducting objective research is an unattainable pursuit; a researcher's values and theoretical beliefs can not fully be removed from any inquiry. Instead, many interpretive researchers approach theory-building by immersing themselves into the social context that they are studying; they use methods such as interviewing and observation. Inductively, the interpretivist scholar builds theory from the community or group of individuals that he or she interacts within a particular social context. Interpretivism is influenced by philosophical frameworks including hermeneutics, phenomenology, and symbolic interactionism.[2]