Letting Easton Be Easton— An Interpretivist

Until now, political science has lacked a clear, comprehensive methodological paradigm to offer as an alternative to the dominant positivistic approach, with its myth of “objectivity” and obsessions with quantification, replication, and verification. Former American Political Science Association president, David Easton, has bequeathed to the profession a complete statement of Interpretive Political Science, which gives empathy a central role in research and acknowledges intersubjective agreement as the means for validating claims to knowledge. As John Gunnell, historian of the profession, has observed, Easton’s true approach has never been accurately portrayed. It has generally been lumped in with positivistic “behavioralism.” This essay sets Easton free.