Consider the intentional nature of social life. Some positivists argue that we confirm explanations by their fit with observations, and meanings are irrelevant because we cannot observe them (Skinner, 1938; Watson, 1924). Few social scientists still believe in this strong positivism. Most accept that agents act for reasons of their own, where these reasons may be irrational or unconscious. Today what may be irrational or unconscious. Today what divides positivist and interpretive theorists is the role they give to meanings in explaining actions. Positivists want meanings to drop out of these explanations. They argue that to give the reasons for an action is merely to redescribe that action. If we want to explain an action, they add, then we have to show how it – and so agents’ reasons – conforms to a general law referring to social facts (Ayer, 1967).