This Pass or Prepared? is based on the German concept of Verstehen. Frank Elwell named his Weber Page Verstehen. The Verstehen Page is a good introduction to Weber. Follow the directions in our first Weber essay for using Frank Elwell's site.

Read the Weber-related sections in our text, Contemporary Social Problems:

• p. 8
• p. x
• p. . . .

Then skim the first five points (numbered) in Rob Shield's paper, The Dialogical Challenge to Verstehen.

Based on your reading, answer the following questions:

Click on any question number to see jeanne's answer to that question.

1. What does Verstehen mean?

2. Why do you suppose Frank Elwell named his Weber page Vershehen?

3. Is there a problem with the idea of Verstehen in the 21st Century?

4. What do you think Rob Shield means in his 1996 paper, when he says "Verstehen is predicated on synthesis rather than multiplicity." ?

5. What do you suppose Rob Shields means by "Verstehen objectifies the position of Self and obscures it."?

   It's OK. Peek. This is only a Pass? or Prepared? And it's OK to guess. Use your common sense, too

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   Figurine by Rudiger Appel. Notice that you can see three effects in the animation. Either the Variation on the Kandinsky figurine appears to turn in a clockwise direction, or in a counterclockwise direction, or it appears to open and close. Can you see all three effects? Try. Fascinated? Link to Appel's site and then link to the background he provides. Scroll down until you find a link to background.

Copyright: Jeanne Curran and Susan R. Takata, June 2000. "Fair Use" encouraged.

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