It is a historically situated approach, regarding explanation as first and foremost the giving of an account that is sensible in the way it addresses current interests and concerns, not a search for timeless and ahistorical laws and formal structures. Hermeneutic inquiry begins with a preliminary and tentative preunderstanding of what is to be studied, of the question being asked, and of what will count as an answer to this question. Introduce the perspective from critical theory. Critical theorists maintain that in stratified and divided societies, more powerful groups and individuals reap the benefits of participating in processes through which less-powerful people and natural environment are mistreated. Critical theory also has a normative component that stresses not what is but what could be or should be.
Critical theorists hold that no knowledge is neutral.
They maintain that social scientists in particular serve interests and take sides on important issues, even when they strive for impartiality and aspire to serve the public interest. The critical attitude entailed rejecting conventional images of scientific conduct that portrayed sequestered intellectuals pursuing disinterested inquiry. A logic of theoretical network is based on at least four ideas. First, propositions mentioning unobservables are too weak in isolation to generate verifiable consequences by deduction. Second, confirmation should be substituted for verification as the criterion for the truth of the statements of science.