SOCIAL-SCIENCE, IDEOLOGY AND CONFUSING ONES BELIEFS WITH FACTS - RESPONSE

Huesmann's assertion that his cognitive theory of aggression is a stra ightforward reflection of human reality is challenged as a confusion o f objectivist and liberal individualist ideologies with facts. A herme neutic alternative is suggested, within which human activity is unders tood in terms of intersubjective conventions and standards rather than being determined by natural laws. From this viewpoint, Huesmann's dis tinction between facts and values is not possible because the human li fe world is constituted by embodied meanings and values, the clarifica tion and negotiation of which is central to being human. This perspect ive reveals Huesmann's theory and response to be but one of many creat ive interpretations of human living rather than the unbiased reflectio n of reality he claims it to be.