School of thought

Hermeneutics

Tradition

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Classification

Period
c. 1838 CE onward
Regions
europe
Domains
Epistemology , Philosophy of Language

Overview

Hermeneutics is the philosophy of interpretation and understanding. Gadamer argued that understanding is not a neutral method but always involves the interpreter's historical situation and prejudices (pre-understandings). Genuine understanding occurs through a 'fusion of horizons' — where the interpreter's perspective and the text's horizon meet and produce new meaning.

Key ideas

  • Hermeneutic Circle: We understand the parts through the whole and the whole through the parts. Understanding is circular: every interpretation presupposes prior understanding, which is revised through further interpretation.
  • Fusion of Horizons: Understanding is not reproducing an author's original intention but a productive encounter between the reader's 'horizon' (historical situation) and the text's horizon.
  • Productive Prejudice: Gadamer rehabilitates 'prejudice' (Vorurteil): pre-understandings are not obstacles to truth but the very conditions that make understanding possible.

Key figures

Friedrich Schleiermacher · Wilhelm Dilthey · Hans-Georg Gadamer · Paul Ricoeur

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