Assuming that the social theory developed by Habermas is very similar to that constructed by M. Weber, this article performs a comparative study with the intention of identifying the ways in which Weber and Habermas built the concept of understanding. Both authors chose this concept, each in his own way, as a methodological tool appropriate to the difficulties of the production of scientific knowledge in the social sciences. As much for Weber as for Habermas, knowledge in the social sciences cannot escape the direct influences of the subjectivity of the scientist, as it also cannot protect itself from the historical and cultural contingencies to which every human action is inevitably linked. Therefore, based on their own reasons, both Weber and Habermas point to understanding as the possible form of knowledge, which implies the renunciation of the explanatory pretensions and general theories of ultimate foundations typical of the conventional sciences.
Understanding; Explanation; Social Sciences; Habermas; Weber