Hermeneutics

Philosophical hermeneutics redirects here. For 1.1 Folk etymology

other uses, see Hermeneutics (disambiguation). For
the history of hermeneutics, see History of hermeneutics.

Hermeneutics (/hrmnjutks/)[1] is the theory and

methodology of interpretation,[2][3] especially the in-
terpretation of biblical texts, wisdom literature, and
philosophical texts.[4][5]
Modern hermeneutics includes both verbal and non-
verbal communication[6][7] as well as semiotics,
presuppositions, and pre-understandings. Hermeneutics
has been broadly applied in the humanities, especially in
law, history and theology.
Hermeneutics was initially applied to the interpretation,
or exegesis, of scripture, and has been later broad-
ened to questions of general interpretation.[8] The terms
hermeneutics and exegesis are sometimes used inter-
changeably. Hermeneutics is a wider discipline which in-
cludes written, verbal, and non-verbal[6][7] communica-
tion. Exegesis focuses primarily upon texts.
Hermeneutic, as a singular noun, refers to some partic-
ular method of interpretation (see, in contrast, double
hermeneutic).

1 Etymology
Hermeneutics is derived from the Greek word -
(hermeneu, translate, interpret),[9] from -
(hermeneus, translator, interpreter), of uncertain
etymology (R. S. P. Beekes (2009) suggests a Pre-Greek
origin).[10] The technical term (hermeneia, in-
terpretation, explanation) was introduced into philoso-
phy mainly through the title of Aristotle's work -
(Peri Hermeneias), commonly referred to by
its Latin title De Interpretatione and translated in English
as On Interpretation. It is one of the earliest (c. 360
B.C.) extant philosophical works in the Western tradition
to deal with the relationship between language and logic Hermes, messenger of the gods.
in a comprehensive, explicit and formal way.
The early usage of hermeneutics places it within the Folk etymology places its origin with Hermes, the mytho-
boundaries of the sacred.[11] A divine message must be logical[13]Greek deity who was the 'messenger of the
received with implicit uncertainty regarding its truth. gods. Besides being a mediator between the gods and
This ambiguity is an irrationality; it is a sort of mad- between the gods and men, he led souls to the underworld
ness that is inicted upon the receiver of the message. upon death.
Only one who possesses a rational method of interpre- Hermes was also considered to be the inventor of lan-
tation (i.e., a hermeneutic) could determine the truth or guage and speech, an interpreter, a liar, a thief and
falsity of the message.[12] a trickster.[13] These multiple roles made Hermes an

1
2 2
ideal representative gure for hermeneutics. As Socrates
noted, words have the power to reveal or conceal and
can deliver messages in an ambiguous way.[13] The Greek
view of language as consisting of signs that could lead to
truth or to falsehood was the essence of Hermes, who was
said to relish the uneasiness of those who received the
messages he delivered.
2 In religious traditions
2.1 Talmudic hermeneutics
Main article: Talmudic hermeneutics
See also: Judaism Rabbinic hermeneutics
Summaries of the principles by which Torah can be in-
terpreted date back to, at least, Hillel the Elder, although
the thirteen principles set forth in the Baraita of Rabbi
Ishmael are perhaps the best known. These principles
ranged from standard rules of logic (e.g., a fortiori argu-
ment [known in Hebrew as kal v'chomer]) dierent interpretive traditions.
to more expansive ones, such as the rule that a passage
could be interpreted by reference to another passage in
which the same word appears (Gezerah Shavah). The
rabbis did not ascribe equal persuasive power to the var-
ious principles.[14]
Traditional Jewish hermeneutics diered from the Greek
method in that the rabbis considered the Tanakh (the Jew-
ish bibilical canon) to be without error. Any apparent in-
consistencies had to be understood by means of careful
examination of a given text within the context of other
texts. There were dierent levels of interpretation: some
were used to arrive at the plain meaning of the text, some
expounded the law given in the text, and others found
secret or mystical levels of understanding.
2.2 Vedic hermeneutics
Main article: Mimamsa
Vedic hermeneutics involves the exegesis of the Vedas,
the earliest holy texts of Hinduism. The Mimamsa was
the leading hermeneutic school and their primary pur-
pose was understanding what Dharma (righteous living)
involved by a detailed hermeneutic study of the Vedas.
They also derived the rules for the various rituals that had
to be performed precisely.
The foundational text is the Mimamsa Sutra of Jaimini
(ca. 3rd to 1st century BCE) with a major commentary
by abara (ca. the 5th or 6th century CE). The Mimamsa
sutra summed up the basic rules for Vedic interpretation.
IN RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS
2.3 Buddhist hermeneutics
Main article: Buddhist hermeneutics
Buddhist hermeneutics deals with the interpretation of
the vast Buddhist literature, particularly those texts which
are said to be spoken by the Buddha (Buddhavacana)
and other enlightened beings. Buddhist hermeneutics
is deeply tied to Buddhist spiritual practice and its ulti-
mate aim is to extract skillful means of reaching spiri-
tual enlightenment or nirvana. A central question in Bud-
dhist hermeneutics is which Buddhist teachings are ex-
plicit, representing ultimate truth, and which teachings
are merely conventional or relative.
2.4 Biblical hermeneutics
Main article: Biblical hermeneutics
Biblical hermeneutics is the study of the principles of in-
terpretation of the Bible. While Jewish and Christian bib-
lical hermeneutics have some overlap, they have distinctly
The early patristic traditions of biblical exegesis had few
unifying characteristics in the beginning but tended to-
ward unication in later schools of biblical hermeneutics.
Augustine oers hermeneutics and homiletics in his De
doctrina christiana. He stresses the importance of hu-
mility in the study of Scripture. He also regards the du-
plex commandment of love in Matthew 22 as the heart of
Christian faith. In Augustines hermeneutics, sign has an
important role. God can communicate with the believer
through the signs of the Scriptures. Thus, humility, love,
and the knowledge of signs are an essential hermeneuti-
cal presupposition for a sound interpretation of the Scrip-
tures. Although Augustine endorses some teaching of the
Platonism of his time, he corrects and recasts it accord-
ing to a theocentric doctrine of the Bible. Similarly, in a
practical discipline, he modies the classical theory of or-
atory in a Christian way. He underscores the meaning of
diligent study of the Bible and prayer as more than mere
human knowledge and oratory skills. As a concluding re-
mark, Augustine encourages the interpreter and preacher
of the Bible to seek a good manner of life and, most of
all, to love God and neighbor.[15]
There are traditionally four dierent types of biblical
hermeneutics: literal, moral, allegorical (spiritual), and
anagogical.[16]
2.4.1 Literal
Encyclopdia Britannica states that literal analysis means
a biblical text is to be deciphered according to the plain
meaning expressed by its linguistic construction and his-
torical context. The intention of the authors is believed
3.2 Modern hermeneutics 3

to correspond to the literal meaning. Literal hermeneu- However, biblical hermeneutics did not die o. For ex-
tics is often associated with the verbal inspiration of the ample, the Protestant Reformation brought about a re-
Bible.[17] newed interest in the interpretation of the Bible, which
took a step away from the interpretive tradition developed
during the Middle Ages back to the texts themselves.
2.4.2 Moral Martin Luther and John Calvin emphasized scriptura sui
ipsius interpres (scripture interprets itself). Calvin used
Moral interpretation searches for moral lessons which can brevitas et facilitas as an aspect of theological hermeneu-
be understood from writings within the Bible. Allegories tics.
are often placed in this category.[17]
The rationalist Enlightenment led hermeneutists, espe-
cially Protestant exegetists, to view Scriptural texts as
2.4.3 Allegorical secular classical texts. They interpreted Scripture as re-
sponses to historical or social forces so that, for example,
Allegorical interpretation states that biblical narratives apparent contradictions and dicult passages in the New
have a second level of reference that is more than the Testament might be claried by comparing their possible
people, events and things that are explicitly mentioned. meanings with contemporary Christian practices.
One type of allegorical interpretation is known as typo- 19th- and 20th-century hermeneutics emerged as a
logical, where the key gures, events, and establishments theory of understanding (Verstehen) through the work of
of the Old Testament are viewed as types. In the New Friedrich Schleiermacher (Romantic hermeneu-
Testament this can also include foreshadowing of people, tics[18] and methodological hermeneutics[19] ),
objects, and events. According to this theory, readings August Bckh (methodological hermeneutics[20] ),
like Noahs Ark could be understood by using the Ark as Wilhelm Dilthey (epistemological hermeneu-
a type of Christian church that God expected from the tics[21] ), Martin Heidegger (ontological hermeneu-
start.[17] tics,[22] hermeneutic phenomenology,[23][24] and
transcendental hermeneutic phenomenology[25] ) Hans-
Georg Gadamer (ontological hermeneutics),[26] Paul
2.4.4 Anagogical
Ricur (hermeneutic phenomenology),[27] Walter
Benjamin (Marxist hermeneutics),[28] Ernst Bloch
This type of interpretation is more often known as mys-
(Marxist hermeneutics),[29][28] Jacques Derrida (radical
tical interpretation. It purports to explain the events of
hermeneutics, namely deconstruction),[30][31] Richard
the Bible and how they relate to or predict what the fu-
Kearney (diacritical hermeneutics), Fredric Jameson
ture holds. This is evident in the Jewish Kabbalah, which
(Marxist hermeneutics),[32] and John Thompson (critical
attempts to reveal the mystical signicance of the numer-
hermeneutics).
ical values of Hebrew words and letters.
Regarding the relation of hermeneutics with problems of
In Judaism, anagogical interpretation is also evident in
analytic philosophy, there has been, particularly among
the medieval Zohar. In Christianity, it can be seen in
analytic Heideggerians and those working on Heideg-
Mariology.[17]
gers philosophy of science, an attempt to try and situ-
ate Heideggers hermeneutic project in debates concern-
ing realism and anti-realism: arguments have been pre-
3 Philosophical hermeneutics sented both for Heideggers hermeneutic idealism (the
thesis that meaning determines reference or, equivalently,
3.1 Ancient and medieval hermeneutics that our understanding of the being of entities is what
determines entities as entities)[33] and for Heideggers
Main article: History of hermeneutics hermeneutic realism[34] (the thesis that (a) there is a na-
ture in itself and science can give us an explanation of how
that nature works, and (b) that (a) is compatible with the
ontological implications of our everyday practices).[35]
3.2 Modern hermeneutics
3.2.1 Schleiermacher (17681834)
The discipline of hermeneutics emerged with the new
humanist education of the 15th century as a historical and
critical methodology for analyzing texts. In a triumph of Friedrich Schleiermacher explored the nature of under-
early modern hermeneutics, the Italian humanist Lorenzo standing in relation not just to the problem of deciphering
Valla proved in 1440 that the Donation of Constantine was sacred texts but to all human texts and modes of commu-
a forgery. This was done through intrinsic evidence of nication.
the text itself. Thus hermeneutics expanded from its me- The interpretation of a text must proceed by framing its
dieval role of explaining the true meaning of the Bible. content in terms of the overall organization of the work.
4 3 PHILOSOPHICAL HERMENEUTICS

Schleiermacher distinguished between grammatical in- a level that contains both comprehension and in-
terpretation and psychological interpretation. The former comprehension. Incomprehension means, more or
studies how a work is composed from general ideas; the less, wrong understanding. He assumed that com-
latter studies the peculiar combinations that characterize prehension produces coexistence: he who under-
the work as a whole. He said that every problem of in- stands, understands others; he who does not under-
terpretation is a problem of understanding and even de- stand stays alone.
ned hermeneutics as the art of avoiding misunderstand-
ing. Misunderstanding was to be avoided by means of
knowledge of grammatical and psychological laws. 3.2.3 Heidegger (18891976)
During Schleiermachers time, a fundamental shift oc-
In the 20th century, Martin Heidegger's philosophical
curred from understanding not merely the exact words
hermeneutics shifted the focus from interpretation to
and their objective meaning, to an understanding of the
[36][37] existential understanding, which was treated more as a
writers distinctive character and point of view.
direct and thus more authentic way of being in the
world than merely as a way of knowing.[38] For exam-
3.2.2 Dilthey (18331911) ple, he called for a special hermeneutic of empathy to
dissolve the classic philosophic issue of other minds by
Wilhelm Dilthey broadened hermeneutics even more by putting the issue in the context of the being-with of hu-
relating interpretation to historical objectication. Un- man relatedness. (Heidegger himself did not complete
[39]
derstanding moves from the outer manifestations of hu- this inquiry.)
man action and productivity to the exploration of their Advocates of this approach claim that some texts, and the
inner meaning. In his last important essay, The Un- people who produce them, cannot be studied by means
derstanding of Other Persons and Their Manifestations of using the same scientic methods that are used in the
of Life (1910), Dilthey made clear that this move from natural sciences, thus drawing upon arguments similar to
outer to inner, from expression to what is expressed, is those of antipositivism. Moreover, they claim that such
not based on empathy. Empathy involves a direct iden- texts are conventionalized expressions of the experience
tication with the Other. Interpretation involves an indi- of the author. Thus, the interpretation of such texts will
rect or mediated understanding that can only be attained reveal something about the social context in which they
by placing human expressions in their historical context. were formed, and, more signicantly, will provide the
Thus, understanding is not a process of reconstructing the reader with a means of sharing the experiences of the au-
state of mind of the author, but one of articulating what thor.
is expressed in his work.
The reciprocity between text and context is part of what
Dilthey divided sciences of the mind (human sciences) Heidegger called the hermeneutic circle. Among the key
into three structural levels: experience, expression, and thinkers who elaborated this idea was the sociologist Max
comprehension. Weber.

Experience means to feel a situation or thing per-

sonally. Dilthey suggested that we can always grasp 3.2.4 Gadamer (19002002) et al.
the meaning of unknown thought when we try to ex-
perience it. His understanding of experience is very Hans-Georg Gadamer's hermeneutics is a development of
similar to that of phenomenologist Edmund Husserl. the hermeneutics of his teacher, Heidegger. Gadamer as-
serted that methodical contemplation is opposite to ex-
Expression converts experience into meaning be- perience and reection. We can reach the truth only by
cause the discourse has an appeal to someone out- understanding or mastering our experience. According
side of oneself. Every saying is an expression. to Gadamer, our understanding is not xed but rather is
Dilthey suggested that one can always return to an changing and always indicating new perspectives. The
expression, especially to its written form, and this most important thing is to unfold the nature of individual
practice has the same objective value as an experi- understanding.
ment in science. The possibility of returning makes Gadamer pointed out that prejudice is an element of our
scientic analysis possible, and therefore the hu- understanding and is not per se without value. Indeed,
manities may be labeled as science. Moreover, he prejudices, in the sense of pre-judgements of the thing
assumed that an expression may be saying more we want to understand, are unavoidable. Being alien to
than the speaker intends because the expression a particular tradition is a condition of our understanding.
brings forward meanings which the individual con- He said that we can never step outside of our tradition
sciousness may not fully understand. all we can do is try to understand it. This further elabo-
The last structural level of the science of the mind, rates the idea of the hermeneutic circle.
according to Dilthey, is comprehension, which is Bernard Lonergan's (19041984) hermeneutics is less
 5

well known, but a case for considering his work as the cal; anagogical) to relate interpretation to the Mode of
culmination of the postmodern hermeneutical revolution Production, and eventually, history.[44]
that began with Heidegger was made in several articles by
Lonergan specialist Frederick G. Lawrence.[40]
Paul Ricur (19132005) developed a hermeneutics that 3.2.6 Objective hermeneutics
is based upon Heideggers concepts. His work diers in
many ways from that of Gadamer. Karl Popper rst used the term "objective hermeneu-
[45]
Karl-Otto Apel (b. 1922) elaborated a hermeneutics tics" in his Objective Knowledge (1972).
based on American semiotics. He applied his model to In 1992, the Association for Objective Hermeneutics
discourse ethics with political motivations akin to those (AGOH) was founded in Frankfurt am Main by schol-
of critical theory. ars of various disciplines in the humanities and social
Jrgen Habermas (b. 1929) criticized the conservatism sciences. Its goal is to provide all scholars who use the
of previous hermeneutists, especially Gadamer, because methodology of objective hermeneutics with a means of
[46]
their focus on tradition seemed to undermine possibilities exchanging information.
for social criticism and transformation. He also criticized In one of the few translated texts of this German school
Marxism and previous members of the Frankfurt School of hermeneutics, its founders declared:
for missing the hermeneutical dimension of critical the-
ory.
Habermas incorporated the notion of the lifeworld and Our approach has grown out of the empir-
emphasized the importance for social theory of interac- ical study of family interactions as well as re-
tion, communication, labor, and production. He viewed ection upon the procedures of interpretation
hermeneutics as a dimension of critical social theory. employed in our research. For the time be-
ing we shall refer to it as objective hermeneu-
Andrs Ortiz-Oss (b. 1943) has developed his symbolic tics in order to distinguish it clearly from tra-
hermeneutics as the Mediterranean response to Northern ditional hermeneutic techniques and orienta-
European hermeneutics. His main statement regarding tions. The general signicance for sociolog-
symbolic understanding of the world is that meaning is a ical analysis of objective hermeneutics issues
symbolic healing of injury. from the fact that, in the social sciences, in-
Two other important hermeneutic scholars are Jean terpretive methods constitute the fundamental
Grondin (b. 1955) and Maurizio Ferraris (b. 1956). procedures of measurement and of the genera-
tion of research data relevant to theory. From
Mauricio Beuchot coined the term and discipline of our perspective, the standard, nonhermeneu-
analogic hermeneutics, which is a type of hermeneutics tic methods of quantitative social research can
that is based upon interpretation and takes into account only be justied because they permit a short-
the plurality of aspects of meaning. He drew categories cut in generating data (and research econ-
both from analytic and continental philosophy, as well as omy comes about under specic conditions).
from the history of thought. Whereas the conventional methodological atti-
Two scholars who have published criticism of Gadamers tude in the social sciences justies qualitative
hermeneutics are the Italian jurist Emilio Betti and the approaches as exploratory or preparatory ac-
American literary theorist E. D. Hirsch. tivities, to be succeeded by standardized ap-
proaches and techniques as the actual scien-
tic procedures (assuring precision, validity,
3.2.5 Marxist hermeneutics and objectivity), we regard hermeneutic pro-
cedures as the basic method for gaining pre-
The method of Marxist hermeneutics has been devel- cise and valid knowledge in the social sciences.
oped by the work of, primarily, Walter Benjamin and However, we do not simply reject alternative
Fredric Jameson. Benjamin outlines his theory of the al- approaches dogmatically. They are in fact use-
legory in his study Ursprung des deutschen Trauerspiel [28] ful wherever the loss in precision and objec-
(Trauerspiel literally means mourning play but is of- tivity necessitated by the requirement of re-
ten translated as tragic drama). [41]
Fredric Jameson search economy can be condoned and tolerated
[42]
draws on Biblical hermeneutics, Ernst Bloch, and the in the light of prior hermeneutically elucidated
work of Northrop Frye, to advance his theory of Marxist research experiences.[47]
hermeneutics in his inuential The Political Unconscious.
Jamesons Marxist hermeneutics is outlined in the rst
chapter of the book, titled On Interpretation[43] Jame-
son re-interprets (and secularizes) the fourfold system (or 4 Applications
four levels) of Biblical exegesis (literal; moral; allegori-
6 4 APPLICATIONS

4.1 Archaeology 4.4 International relations

In archaeology, hermeneutics means the interpretation Insofar as hermeneutics is a basis of both critical theory
and understanding of material through analysis of pos- and constitutive theory (both of which have made impor-
sible meanings and social uses. tant inroads into the postpositivist branch of international
relations theory and political science), it has been applied
Proponents argue that interpretation of artifacts is un- to international relations.
avoidably hermeneutic because we cannot know for cer-
tain the meaning behind them. We can only apply modern Steve Smith refers to hermeneutics as the principal way
values when interpreting. This is most commonly seen of grounding a foundationalist yet postpositivist theory of
in stone tools, where descriptions such as scraper can international relations.
be highly subjective and actually unproven until the de- Radical postmodernism is an example of a postpositivist
velopment of microwear analysis some thirty years ago. yet anti-foundationalist paradigm of international rela-
Of course, one could argue that only the individual lithic tions.
being examined was ever used as a scraper, and that
all the many thousands of near-identical instances were
something else entirely, which is where this kind of ap- 4.5 Law
proach leads us. All attempts at systematic materialist
classication become nonsense. Main articles: Jurisprudence and Law
Opponents argue that a hermeneutic approach is too
relativist and that their own interpretations are based on Some scholars argue that law and theology are particular
common-sense evaluation. forms of hermeneutics because of their need to interpret
legal tradition or scriptural texts. Moreover, the problem
of interpretation has been central to legal theory since at
least the 11th century.
4.2 Architecture In the Middle Ages and Italian Renaissance, the schools
of glossatores, commentatores, and usus modernus distin-
There are several traditions of architectural scholar- guished themselves by their approach to the interpreta-
ship that draw upon the hermeneutics of Heidegger tion of laws (mainly Justinian's Corpus Juris Civilis).
and Gadamer, such as Christian Norberg-Schulz, and The University of Bologna gave birth to a legal Renais-
Nader El-Bizri in the circles of phenomenology. Lind- sance in the 11th century, when the Corpus Juris Civilis
say Jones examines the way architecture is received was rediscovered and systematically studied by men such
and how that reception changes with time and context as Irnerius and Johannes Gratian. It was an interpretative
(e.g., how a building is interpreted by critics, users, Renaissance. Subsequently, these were fully developed
and historians).[48] Dalibor Vesely situates hermeneutics by Thomas Aquinas and Alberico Gentili.
within a critique of the application of overly scientic Since then, interpretation has always been at the cen-
thinking to architecture.[49] This tradition ts within a ter of legal thought. Friedrich Carl von Savigny and
critique of the Enlightenment[50] and has also informed Emilio Betti, among others, made signicant contribu-
design-studio teaching. Adrian Snodgrass sees the study tions to general hermeneutics. Legal interpretivism, most
of history and Asian cultures by architects as a hermeneu- famously Ronald Dworkin's, may be seen as a branch of
tical encounter with otherness.[51] He also deploys argu- philosophical hermeneutics.
ments from hermeneutics to explain design as a process of
interpretation.[52] Along with Richard Coyne, he extends
the argument to the nature of architectural education and 4.6 Political philosophy
design.[53]
Italian philosopher Gianni Vattimo and Spanish philoso-
pher Santiago Zabala in their book Hermeneutic Commu-
nism, when discussing contemporary capitalist regimes,
4.3 Environment stated that, A politics of descriptions does not impose
power in order to dominate as a philosophy; rather, it
Environmental hermeneutics applies hermeneutics to en- is functional for the continued existence of a society
vironmental issues conceived broadly to subjects in- of dominion, which pursues truth in the form of im-
cluding "nature" and "wilderness" (both terms are mat- position (violence), conservation (realism), and triumph
ters of hermeneutical contention), landscapes, ecosys- (history).[56]
tems, built environments (where it overlaps architectural Vattimo and Zabala also stated that they view
hermeneutics[54][55] ), inter-species relationships, the re- interpretation as anarchy and armed that exis-
lationship of the body to the world, and more. tence is interpretation and that hermeneutics is weak
4.10 Safety science 7

thought. Myth should not be interpreted as an illusion or a lie, be-

cause there is truth in myth to be rediscovered.[62] Myth
is interpreted by Mircea Eliade as 'sacred history'. He
4.7 Psychoanalysis introduces the concept of 'total hermeneutics.[63]

See also: Freud and Philosophy

4.10 Safety science
Psychoanalysts have made ample use of hermeneutics
since Sigmund Freud rst gave birth to their discipline. In the eld of safety science, and especially in the study
In 1900 Freud wrote that the title he chose for The Inter- of human reliability, scientists have become increasingly
pretation of Dreams 'makes plain which of the traditional interested in hermeneutic approaches.
approaches to the problem of dreams I am inclined to It has been proposed by ergonomist Donald Taylor that
follow...[i.e.] interpreting a dream implies assigning a
mechanist models of human behaviour will only take us
meaning to it.'[57] so far in terms of accident reduction, and that safety sci-
The French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan later extended ence must look at the meaning of accidents for human
[64]
Freudian hermeneutics into other psychical realms. His beings.
early work from the 1930s50s is particularly inuenced Other scholars in the eld have attempted to create safety
by Heidegger, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty's hermeneuti- taxonomies that make use of hermeneutic concepts in
cal phenomenology.[58] terms of their categorisation of qualitative data.[65]

4.8 Psychology 4.11 Sociology

See also: Postcognitivism
In sociology, hermeneutics is the interpretation and un-
derstanding of social events through analysis of their
Psychologists and computer scientists have recently be- meanings for the human participants in the events. It en-
come interested in hermeneutics, especially as an alter- joyed prominence during the 1960s and 1970s, and dif-
native to cognitivism. fers from other interpretive schools of sociology in that it
[66]
Hubert Dreyfus's critique of conventional articial in- emphasizes the importance of both context and form
telligence has been inuential among psychologists who within any given social behaviour.
are interested in hermeneutic approaches to meaning The central principle of sociological hermeneutics is that
and interpretation, as discussed by philosophers such as it is only possible to know the meaning of an act or state-
Martin Heidegger (cf. Embodied cognition) and Ludwig ment within the context of the discourse or world view
Wittgenstein (cf. Discursive psychology). from which it originates. Context is critical to compre-
Hermeneutics is also inuential in humanistic psychol- hension; an action or event that carries substantial weight
ogy.[59] to one person or culture may be viewed as meaningless
or entirely dierent to another. For example, giving the
thumbs-up gesture is widely accepted as a sign of a job
well done in the United States, while other cultures view
4.9 Religion and theology it as an insult.[67] Similarly, putting a piece of paper into
a box might be considered a meaningless act unless it is
See also: Exegesis, Biblical hermeneutics, Talmudical
put into the context of democratic elections (the act of
hermeneutics, and Quranic hermeneutics putting a ballot paper into a box).
Friedrich Schleiermacher, widely regarded as the father
The understanding of a theological text depends upon the of sociological hermeneutics believed that, in order for an
readers particular hermeneutical viewpoint. Some theo- interpreter to understand the work of another author, they
rists, such as Paul Ricur, have applied modern philo- must familiarize themselves with the historical context
sophical hermeneutics to theological texts (in Ricurs in which the author published their thoughts. His work
case, the Bible). led to the inspiration of Heideggers "hermeneutic circle"
Mircea Eliade, as a hermeneutist, understands religion as a frequently referenced model that claims ones under-
'experience of the sacred', and interprets the sacred in standing of individual parts of a text is based on their un-
relation to the profane.[60] The Romanian scholar under- derstanding of the whole text, while the understanding of
lines that the relation between the sacred and the profane the whole text is dependent on the understanding of each
is not of opposition, but of complementarity, having in- individual part.[68] Hermeneutics in sociology was also
terpreted the profane as a hierophany.[61] The hermeneu- heavily inuenced by German philosopher Hans-Georg
tics of the myth is a part of the hermeneutics of religion. Gadamer.[69]
8 7 REFERENCES

5 Criticism
Jrgen Habermas criticizes Gadamers hermeneutics as
being unsuitable for understanding society because it is
unable to account for questions of social reality, like la-
bor and domination.[70]
Murray Rothbard, an economist, criticized hermeneutics
of invading economics.[71]
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[23] Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka, Phenomenology World-
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[24] Cf. interpretative phenomenological analysis in psycho-
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Peirce, C.S., Collected Papers of Charles Sanders

Peirce, vols. 16, Charles Hartshorne and Paul
Weiss (eds.), vols. 78, Arthur W. Burks (ed.),
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9 External links
Abductive Inference and Literary theory Pragma-
tism, Hermeneutics and Semiotics written by Uwe
Wirth.
Meta: Research in Hermeneutics, Phenomenol-
ogy, and Practical Philosophy International peer-
reviewed journal.

Objective Hermeneutics Bibliographic Database

provided by the Association for Objective
Hermeneutics.
Palmer, Richard E., The Liminality of Hermes and
the Meaning of Hermeneutics

Palmer, Richard E., The Relevance of Gadamers

Philosophical Hermeneutics to Thirty-Six Topics or
Fields of Human Activity, Lecture Delivered at the
Department of Philosophy, Southern Illinois Uni-
versity, Carbondale, IL, 1 April 1999, Eprint.
Plato, Ion, Paul Woodru (trans.) in Plato, Complete
Works, ed. John M. Cooper. Indianapolis: Hackett
Publishing Company, 1997, pp. 937949.

Quintana Paz, Miguel ngel, On Hermeneutical

Ethics and Education, a paper on the relevance of
Gadamers Hermeneutics for our understanding of
Music, Ethics and our Education in both.

Szesnat, Holger, Philosophical Hermeneutics,

Webpage.
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