Hermeneutics: The Philosophy of Interpretation

  HERMENEUTICS: THE PHILOSOPHY OF INTERPRETATION

Hermeneuein –to interpret[pic 1]

HERMENEUTICS [pic 2]

                        Hermeneia – interpretation

• A theory, methodology and praxis of interpretation that is geared towards the recapturing of meaning of a text or a text-analogue, that is temporally or culturally distant or obscured by ideology and false consciousness
• Presupposes

• Text and text analogues that are distant in time and culture , or that are blanketed by ideology and false consciousness need to be systematically interpreted under their underlying sense.

• Main reason why hermeneutics seems to be very complicated idea?

• Because it has become complex due to the intertwining of its multiple layers of meanings and concerns

• 3 DIFFERENT LAYERS AND CONCERNS

1. PRAXIS – w/c is concerned with the actual process of interpreting specific texts
2. METHODOLOGY – w/c is concerned with the formulation of reliable systems of interpretation
3. THEORY – w/c is concerned with the epistemological validity and possibility of interpretation

The heightened need for praxis were caused by 2 landmark historical phenomena :

1. PROTESTANT REFORMATION

• Spawned whole process of debate regarding Christian’s relationship with the sacred scriptures

1. RENAISSANCE FASCINATION FOR CLASSICAL ROMAN & GREEK TEXTS

• Generated a whole arsenal of interpretative methodologies(collectively known as ARS CRITICA)
• Ars Critica – useful in establishing the authenticity of the texts as well as in reconstructing the text’s most original and correct version.

FRIEDRICH DANIEL ERNST SCHLEIERMACHER

• Theorized that the primary reason why texts from ancient times were vague and apparently incomplete was because these texts had been removed from their original historical and cultural contexts

• Believed that texts contain implicit references to their original historical and cultural contexts , such that when they are separated from these contexts, vagueness and incompleteness would necessarily confront the interpreter.

• PROPOSED 3 RECONSTRUCTIVE STRATEGIES FOR HIS HERMENEUTIC METHOD :

1. Grammatical Reconstruction –original language and the idiom of the given text are systematically mastered by the interpreter

1. Historical Reconstruction – historical and cultural contexts of a given text are thoroughly studied by the interpreter

1. Comparative Reconstruction –given text is studied side by side with its contemporary texts

WILHELM DILTHEY

• German philosopher of culture and epistemologist, Schleiermacher’s biographer and heir.
• Elaborated on the latter’s idea on the necessity of the cultural ad historical contexts in interpretation.
• Theorized on the existence of a collective consciousness called the objectiver Geist(objective mind)
• Solidification of all and every-life expression of a given culture in a given time.
• objectiver Geist was the ultimate context of all texts and human actions in any given period and place , and understanding it was key for any interpretation.
• BIG PROBLEM:

• Schleiermacher’s reconstructive interpretation would logically force any interpreter to regress infinitely towards the past, tracking an endless trail of contexts.
• Divinatory reconstruction – process through which “one seeks to understand the writer immediately to the point that one transforms oneself into the other.”

• Proposed another type of reconstruction:

• Divinatory reconstruction – process through which “one seeks to understand the writer immediately to the point that one transforms oneself into the other.”

• SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTION TO HERMENEUTICS

• His clarification and elaboration on Schleiermacher’s problematic procedure of divinatory reconstruction.
• Did this by theorizing on another category:

• ERLEBNISSE – were experiences vibrating with life, like love, anger, oppression, revolution, beauty, pain, ambition, frustration and friendship.

“Interpretation would be impossible if the expressions of life were totally alien.

• Believed that the highest form in understanding happens with the reader’s empathic reliving and recreating of the text’s life experiences.

EDMUND HUSSERL

• Believed that a text can reflect its own proper context, making it unnecessary to go outside the parameters of the same text.
• For him interpretation should start with methodic isolation
• Process of bracketing – systematic purification of the mind from all the biases and presuppositions before approaching a given text , so that the meaning of the text will not be contaminated by some biases and presuppositions from the interpreter’s mind.

Example: the story of Solomon. we have to understand him in the context of the same old testament contrary of our present day perspective.