Methodological Individualism, Scientific Explanation, and Hermeneutics

This chapter examines the contribution that the rationality theory of L. von Mises and the theory of scientistic explanation and the “hermeneutic circle” of H.-G. Gadamer can offer to define a more comprehensive theory of IM. The chapter focuses, in particular, on the fact that Gadamer’s “hermeneutic circle” describes a Popperian cognitive process that proceeds by conjecture and refutation and that it is fundamental to scientifically explain the actor’s interpretation of the problematic context in which she finds herself. This hermeneutical approach allows the social scientist to reconstruct the “good reasons” that lead individuals to identify a certain hypotheis of action as a solution for a problem given the situation of uncertainty in which they find themselves.