Methodological individualism or holism in the social sciences?

The article is concerned with the debate between methodological individualists and holists in philosophy and the social sciences. It is usual to categorize social scientific theories as either individualistic or holistic, assuming that they are opposites. The paper argues against this simplistic view. There are different versions of both doctrines and some positions combine elements from both. The first section is an introduction. The second section analyses different approaches to methodological individualism in the 20(th) century. The third section discusses the positions of the methodological holists. The forth section offers a solution to the problem, distinguishing different analytical levels and strong and weak versions of a methodological position. Some adherents of methodological individualism or holism don't distinguish between ontological, methodological and political positions. There is no logical connection between ontological, and methodological position on the one hand, and between political and methodological position on the other hand. A clear contradiction between methodological individualism and holism, therefore, is not so sharp as it seems to be at first sight.