Hermeneutics

Hermeneutics, the study of the theory and practice of interpretation. It was originally used in the study of theology, and applied specifically to biblical interpretation, but has broadened since the 19th century to include philosophical theories of meaning and understanding, and also theories of literary interpretation. Nineteenth-century hermeneutic theorists such as Friedrich Schleiermacher and Wilhelm Dilthey considered understanding to be a process of psychological reconstruction; that is to say, the reconstruction by the reader of the original intention of the author. In this view, the text is the expression of the thoughts of its author and interpreters must attempt to put themselves within the author's “horizon” in order to relive the creative act.

The problem with this conception is primarily its over-optimistic faith in humankind: it assumes similar abilities in all people that override the difficulties involved in all processes of understanding. It is founded upon a belief in the possibility of achieving a single correct interpretation. However, a more sceptical view of interpretation holds that there are no stable grounds for judgement, and thereby runs the risk of foundering in a quagmire of subjectivism and relativism (the realization that knowledge is not absolute). The German philosopher Martin Heidegger and his pupil Hans-Georg Gadamer describe this dilemma as a “hermeneutic circle”, referring to the way in which, in understanding and interpretation, part and whole are related in a circular way: in order to understand the whole it is necessary to understand the parts and vice versa. This is the condition of possibility of all human experience and enquiry. See also Process Philosophy.