DILTHEY, Wilhelm

Wilhelm Dilthey emphasised the difference between humanities and the natural sciences, with ethics and religion firmly in the former. Unlike biology, chemistry and physics which are characterised by structural laws and patterns, human beings are constituted by individual experience. Resulting from the evidence they interact with, people construct world views which are structured according to their sense of reality, and their developing notions of value and purpose. Typically human life expresses itself in religion, literature and metaphysics – each a form of individual response to being in the world,

 Life

• 'Dilthey on the Human Sciences'

• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on Dilthey

Writings

• Introduction to the Human Sciences (first few pages)

• Poetry and Experience