This paper introduces the reader to the epistemological basis of the Clifford Geertz's work and its consequences for anthropological research. The first part explains his basic disagreements with traditional theory and the concepts of culture, as well as the philosophical tools of phenomenology from which his theoretical and methodological proposals are derived. The second section looks at American anthropology in two of the most important areas for the comprehension of his work: the symbolic field -that leads him to the necessity of a semiotic conception of culture-, and the correct methodologv for its study that leads him to a interpretive science.