Surprises...

A term I hadn't encountered until I started reading Shearmur's article...

Verstehen:

Some web definitions -

"Verstehen" is the name we give in German to the "understanding of meaning." Giddens and Turner define "verstehen" as "[e]mpathic understanding of the outlook and feelings of others." Those of you who study with us will recognize how closely this matches our definition of alterity as "listening in good faith to the validity claims of others, and respecting their right and need to make such claims."

or

I begin by summing up Abel's argument. His main contention is that unless the operation called Verstehen is clearly defined, one cannot say how much validity its results have. He then goes on to work in precisely that definition, in order to be able to criticize the operation thus defined. His point of departure for the explication of Verstehen is the presentation of three different examples of application: to a single case, to a general case, and to a statistical case.

Single case: My neighbor makes a fire because there is a drop in temperature. I cannot be certain that this is the correct or true explanation of his conduct, though. He may rather want to show off his fireplace, or even his motive could be unconscious –he might be symbolically burning his house to punish the fellow who harasses him about the mortgage.

General case: "Faced by the insecurity of a changing and hostile world, we seek security by creating 'eternal varieties' in our thoughts" (Lundberg). Clearly the evidence to substantiate the validity of the interpretation is not sufficient. The connection asserted by the generalization is relevant. We understand it and consider it possible.

Statistical case: There has been found a high correlation between the annual rate of crop production and the rate of marriage in a given year in rural areas. The connection is relevant, but the verification is based on objective data (ABEL 48, pp. 212-214).

Now, from the analysis of these three cases it is possible to build a definition or explication of Verstehen: "Two particulars. . . are characteristic of the act of Verstehen. One is the 'internalizing' of observed factors in a given situation; the other is the application of a behavior maxim which makes the connection between these relevant". For example, in the general case mentioned before, we internalize "change and hostility" into "feeling of inadequacy" and the concept of "eternal verities" into "feeling of security". The corresponding behavior maxim is that a person who feels inadequate will seek security. Behavior maxims are generalizations of direct personal experience (we take for granted that the emotions of others function similarly to our own). The result of the operation is to give the certainty that a given interpretation of behavior is a possible one; the sense of relevance is the result of personal experience –the connection has been established before, so one is certain of its possibility.

My translation:

I'll get back to you on that.