Social Science,Ideology and Confusing One's Beliefs with Facts: A Response to Huesmann

Abstract

Huesmann's assertion that his cognitive theory of aggression is a straightforward reflection of human reality is challenged as a confusion of objectivist and liberal individualist ideologies with facts. A hermeneutic alternative is suggested, within which human activity is understood in terms of intersubjective conventions and standards rather than being determined by natural laws. From this viewpoint, Huesmann's distinction between facts and values is not possible because the human life world is constituted by embodied meanings and values, the clarification and negotiation of which is central to being human. This perspective reveals Huesmann's theory and response to be but one of many creative interpretations of human living rather than the unbiased reflection of reality he claims it to be.

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