Understanding Hermeneutics

193 Pages·2007·2.14 MB·English

by  Lawrence K. Schmidt

understanding hermeneutics
Understanding Movements in Modern Thought
Series Editor: Jack Reynolds
Th is series provides short, accessible and lively introductions to the
major schools, movements and traditions in philosophy and the history
of ideas since the beginning of the Enlightenment. All books in the
series are written for undergraduates meeting the subject for the fi rst
time.
Published
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Robert G. Meyers David R. Cerbone
Understanding Existentialism Understanding Poststructuralism
Jack Reynolds James Williams
Understanding Hermeneutics Understanding Virtue Ethics
Lawrence K. Schmidt Stan van Hooft
Forthcoming titles include
Understanding Ethics Understanding Pragmatism
Tim Chappell Axel Mueller
Understanding Feminism Understanding Psychoanalysis
Peta Bowden and Joanne Faulkner and
Jane Mummery Matthew Sharpe
Understanding German Idealism Understanding Rationalism
Will Dudley Charlie Heunemann
Understanding Hegelianism Understanding Utilitarianism
Robert Sinnerbrink Tim Mulgan
Understanding Naturalism
Jack Ritchie
understanding hermeneutics
Lawrence K. Schmidt
acumen
For Kassandra Reuss-Schmidt
© Lawrence K. Schmidt 2006
Th is book is copyright under the Berne Convention.
No reproduction without permission.
All rights reserved.
First published in 2006 by Acumen
Reprinted 2010
Acumen Publishing Limited
4 Saddler Stret
Durham
DH1 3NP
www.acumenpublishing.co.uk
ISBN: 978-1-84465-076-7 (hardcover)
ISBN: 978-1-84465-077-4 (paperback)
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Typeset in Minion Pro.
Printed by Ashford Colour Press Ltd, UK.
Contents
Abbreviations and references vii
Introduction: what is hermeneutics? 1
1 Schleiermacher’s universal hermeneutics 10
2 Dilthey’s hermeneutic understanding 29
3 Heidegger’s hermeneutic ontology 49
4 Hermeneutics in the later Heidegger 80
5 Gadamer’s theory of hermeneutic experience 95
6 Gadamer’s ontological turn towards language 116
7 Hermeneutic controversies 133
Questions for discussion and revision 173
Further reading 177
Index 181
contents v

Abbreviations and references
CU Jürgen Habermas, “Th e Hermeneutic Claim to Universality”, in Th e
Hermeneutic Tradition: From Ast to Ricoeur, Gayle Ormiston & Alan
Schrift (eds), 245–72 (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1990).
DD Diane Michelfelder & Richard Palmer (eds), Dialogue and Deconstruction:
Th e Gadamer–Derrida Encounter (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1989).
DL Martin Heidegger, “A Dialogue on Language between a Japanese and an
Inquirer”, in On the Way to Language, Peter D. Hertz (trans.), 1–56 (New
York: HarperCollins, 1971).
GH Th eodore Kisiel, Th e Genesis of Heidegger’s Being and Time (Berkeley, CA:
University of California Press, 1993).
HC Friedrich Schleiermacher, Hermeneutics and Criticism and Other Writ-
ings, Andrew Bowie (ed.) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1998).
HF Martin Heidegger, Ontology: Hermeneutics of Facticity, John van Buren
(trans.) (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1999).
LH Martin Heidegger, “Letter on Humanism”, in Basic Writings, 2nd rev. and
expanded edn, David F. Krell (ed.), 213–66 (New York: HarperCollins,
1993).
IT Paul Ricoeur, Interpretation Th eory: Discourse and the Surplus of Meaning
(Fort Worth, TX: Texas Christian University Press, 1976).
HFD Paul Ricoeur, “Th e Hermeneutical Function of Distanciation”, in From
Text to Action: Essays in Hermeneutics, II., John B. Th ompson (trans.),
75–88 (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1991).
R Jürgen Habermas, “A Review of Gadamer’s Truth and Method”, in Th e
Hermeneutic Tradition: From Ast to Ricoeur, Gayle Ormiston & Alan
Schrift (eds), 213–44 (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1990).
RC Hans-Georg Gadamer, “Reply to My Critics”, in Th e Hermeneutic Tradi-
tion: From Ast to Ricoeur, Gayle Ormiston & Alan Schrift (eds), 273–97
(Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1990).
abbreviations and references vii
SF Hans-Georg Gadamer, “On the Scope and Function of Hermeneutical
Refl ection”, in Hermeneutics and Modern Philosophy, Brice Wachterhauser
(ed.), 277–99 (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1986).
SSP Jacques Derrida, “Structure, Sign, and Play in the Discourse of the
Human Sciences”, in Writing and Diff erence, Alan Bass (trans.), 278–94
(Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1978).
SW Wilhelm Dilthey, Selected Works, 6 vols, Rudolf Makkreel & Frithjof Rodi
(eds) (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1989– ).
SW1 Dilthey, Selected Works Volume 1: Introduction to the Human Sciences
(1991).
SW3 Dilthey, Selected Works Volume 3: Th e Foundation of the Historical World
in the Human Sciences (2002).
SW4 Dilthey, Selected Works Volume 4: Hermeneutics and the Study of History
(1996).
SZ Martin Heidegger, Being and Time, Joan Stambaugh (trans.) (Albany, NY:
SUNY Press, 1996). Th e page references are to the German text, Sein und
Zeit, and appear in the margins of this translation.
TCA Jürgen Habermas, A Th eory of Communicative Action, vol. 1, Th omas
McCarthy (trans.) (Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 1984).
TH Paul Ricouer, “Th e Task of Hermeneutics”, in From Text to Action: Essays
in Hermeneutics, II, John B. Th ompson (trans.), 53–74 (Evanston, IL:
Northwestern University Press, 1991).
TM Hans-Georg Gadamer, Truth and Method, 2nd rev. edn, Joel Weinsheimer
and Donald G. Marshall (trans.) (New York: Crossroad, 1991).
VI E. D. Hirsch, Jr., Validity in Interpretation (New Haven, CT: Yale Univer-
sity Press, 1967).
W Martin Heidegger, “Words”, in On the Way to Language, Joan Stambaugh
(trans.), 139–58 (New York: HarperCollins, 1971).
WL Martin Heidegger, “Th e Way to Language”, in Basic Writings, 2nd rev. and
expanded edn, David F. Krell (ed.), 393–426 (New York: HarperCollins,
1993).
viii understanding hermeneutics
introduction
What is hermeneutics?
When someone asks me what hermeneutics means, I usually just say that
it means interpretation. Sometimes I continue by adding that herme-
neutics concerns theories for correctly interpreting texts. “Herme-
neutics” and “interpretation” are derived from the same Greek word.
While “hermeneutics” is not a common word in English, “interpretation”
is. We are well aware that there are interpreters and interpretations in
many fi elds of study. One interprets novels, poems, plays and movies.
One interprets the Bible, the Torah, the Koran, the Tao Te Ching and the
Brahmasutra. Should one interpret these texts? Can one do anything but
interpret them? One interprets the law. Th e Supreme Court is supposed
to interpret the Constitution of the United States. An actor interprets the
role she has to portray. A conductor interprets a piece of music. We are
also well aware of diff erent theories of interpretation. Aristotle’s Poetics
tells us how to interpret Greek tragedy; he even states some rules. Literary
criticism has developed many theories for interpreting literary texts. It
would seem we know more about hermeneutics than we thought.
Do natural scientists interpret nature or do they explain it? Do they
interpret the data collected from experiments? Do you interpret or just
understand the motives of your best friend? Do you interpret a sculpture
and, if so, how do you go about that? Is there only one correct inter-
pretation of that sculpture or can there be several? Consider Hamlet;
are there one or several correct interpretations? When you see a stop
sign and stop, is that an interpretation? What if you drove through
without stopping? Is that an interpretation? Is Pythagoras’ theorem an
interpretation?
introduction: what is hermeneutics? 1