Human Studies was the idea and invention of George (Psathas, in the hard to-imagine case that there is a reader who doesn't know that "George" is fol? lowed by "Psathas" ? but need I say how much I hate these parentheses?). Well, to continue: Human Studies has remained his concern ever since its inception. In the evenings I spent in George's house, the passionate but prolonged discussion was crowned with and relieved by cups of tea and some pastry which George, apparently indefatigable, brought around to us exhausted speak? ers and listeners, who nevertheless sat very comfortably on couches and easy chairs ?what a charming host! Among the faithful present were David Rasmussen, Vic Kestenbaum, Jeff Coulter, and Egon Bittner, as well as the spirits of Herbert Spiegelberg and Harold Garfinkel. There were many issues to consider, of course, e.g., content, readers, publisher, and number of copies. Was it going to be a social science or a philosophy journal? What was its re? lation to phenomenology? Was it to be exclusively or in a more general sense phenomenological? What would be the place of ethnomethodology? Through a series of spirited discussions we made important and consequential decisions ?that the journal would be influenced in a more general way by phenomenol? ogy as an overall orientation rather than a specialty, that ethnomethodology would be paid special attention to, and that the standards for scholarship would be high. The issue I remember best is that of the title of the new journal. The reason I remember it so well is that "human studies," which was my proposal, is H.A. Hodges' felicitous translation of Wilhelm Dilthey's Geisteswissenschaften, (study "of the mind" or "of the spirit"), that is, roughly, the social sciences and humanities. My effort was to make this distinction, well known in Ger? man, between the human studies and the natural studies or sciences. The hu? man studies understand, the natural sciences explain. The reason for this distinction is that the human being is a mixed phenomenon, both body and soul, and that therefore any investigation of human beings must do justice to both.