Max Weber and Understanding Explanation

The “understanding-explanation” controversy is a topos in the traditional epistemology of the social sciences. Explanation and understanding are presented as irreconcilable methods, each of which seeks to legitimize its position by relying on canonical works such as that of Max Weber. We wish to deepen the understanding of this debate by returning to the positions taken by Max Weber, who criticizes this opposition and shows, on the contrary, that the sciences of culture must develop an understanding explanation of human actions. The meaning of this paradoxical expression will be illuminated by a reconstruction of the debate in which Weber took part.