Paul Ricoeur's methodological parallelism.

According to philosopher Paul Ricoeur, human action has a quasi-textual quality it requires a "reading," a type of inquiry, and it is different from the method of natural science. Ricoeur defines his hermeneutical method in great part over and against the "received view" of proper scientific method. In doing so he seems to espouse methodological separatism. Methodological separatists argue that the differences between human and natural sciences are radical ones, having to do with the fundamental logic of their inquiry. Among the differences are claims about disparities in the logic of hypothesis justification and the logic of explanation. Anyone familiar with the whole of Ricoeur's work knows that a pervasive and underlying interest which runs throughout his writings is the overcoming of dichotomies, revealing false differences and untenable conciliatory moves. In fact, his work is refreshing in its attempt to preserve a creative tension between differences of all sorts, a view which stems from his own interpretation of the dialectic.