Questions of group self-understanding lie outside behavioral science yet remain rationally discussable.

Evidence

Within sociology as a strict behavioural science, questions relating to the self-understanding of social groups cannot be formulated. Yet they are not meaningless on that count, nor are they beyond binding discussion. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 602

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies Habermas’s distinction between empirically answerable and interpretive questions, central to his theory of cognitive interests.
• XREF: connects to: Interpreting a group’s self-descriptions requires avoiding both scientific neutrality and uncritical acceptance — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 783; Sociology cannot address group self-understanding without historical interpretation and dialectical communication — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2428; True objectivity is unknowable yet still worth striving toward in research. (+1 more)
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Interpreting a group’s self-descriptions requires avoiding both scientific neutrality and uncritical acceptance — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 783; Sociology cannot address group self-understanding without historical interpretation and dialectical communication — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2428; True objectivity is unknowable yet still worth striving toward in research. (+1 more)