hermeneutics
n. the theory or science of interpretation. Hermeneutics is concerned with the ways in which humans derive meaning from language or other symbolic expression. Originally, the term was confined to the interpretation of Scripture, with an emphasis on generating methods of interpretation that would yield the correct meaning of the text. Subsequently, two main strains of hermeneutic thought developed. One originates the work of German philosopher Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768–1834), who broadened hermeneutics by applying it to the interpretation of texts in general rather than to religious writings in particular. This project was expanded by German philosopher Wilhelm Dilthey (1833–1911) into the interpretation of all forms of cultural expression, including artworks, institutions, and historical events. A key concept in this tradition of hermeneutics is the so-called hermeneutic circle—the notion that interpretation is always circular,
in that particulars will necessarily be interpreted in the light of one’s understanding of the whole, and the understanding of the whole will be altered by the understanding of the particulars. Another key assumption is the need to gain insight into the mind of the person or people whose expression is the subject of interpretation. This approach has been criticized on the grounds that such insight is impossible, because there is no access to the mind of another; thus, the methods of hermeneutics will always be imprecise and their results relativistic. A second, more radical, strain of hermeneutics derives from the phenomenology of Edmund Husserl (1859–1938) and the work of German philosopher Martin Heidegger (1889–1976). Heidegger expanded the project of interpretation to include Dasein or human being itself. This suggests that all human behavior can be understood as meaningful expression, much as one would understand a written
text. It also turns the process of interpretation back on the interpreter, as the understanding of the being of human beings entails interpretations of interpretive acts. This shift has given rise to a broad movement within philosophy, psychology, and literary criticism in which richness of interpretation is considered more valuable than consistent methodology or arriving at the “correct” interpretation. Such an approach is a clear alternative to a natural scientific psychology. This type of hermeneutics has informed other contemporary movements, notably existentialism, postmodernism, and poststructuralism. —hermeneutic
adj.