PERCY ALLUM

Cultura o opinioni? Su alcuni dubbi epistemologici

N. 146

Summary — In this essay the a, points out that the Almondian model of the political culture leads essentially to an empirical concept, constructed "a posteriori", on the basis of the observation of social reality. The political culture becomes therefore a "primary" phenomenon, directly derivable from the reading of the "simple data", a synonym of the so-called public opinion. But the concept of political culture is much more than that, something infinitely richer and more articulated, even if of no easy penetration. This at least if it is considered in connection with the problem of meaning, according to an epistemological point of view which leads to hermeneutics. But in the perspective commonly adopted, the "empiricist epistemology", the search for "sense" is obscured by the mere description, the "how" superimposes on the "why", ignoring in a more or less manifest way the fundamental exigency of the explanation.