Philosophy Dictionary of ArgumentsHome
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| Hermeneutics: Hermeneutics is the theory and practice of interpretation, especially the interpretation of texts. Hermeneutics is concerned with the question of how we understand meaning. It is based on the idea that meaning is not fixed or objective, but rather is created through a process of interpretation. This means that the interpreter's own background and experiences will play a role in shaping their understanding of the text. See also Interpretation, Texts, Hermeneutc circle._____________Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments. | |||
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G.W.F. Hegel on Hermeneutics - Dictionary of Arguments
Gadamer I 171 Hermeneutics/Hegel/Gadamer: In the beginning, Schleiermacher as well as Hegel are aware of loss and alienation from tradition, which challenges their hermeneutical reflection. Yet they determine the task of hermeneutics in very different ways. Cf. >Hermeneutics/Schleiermacher. [While,] according to Schleiermacher, historical knowledge [opens] the way to replace what has been lost and to restore tradition, provided it brings back the occidental and the original, Hegel takes a different path: Gadamer I 173 Hegel: "(...) not the real life of their existence is there, not the tree that carried them, not the earth and the elements that formed their substance, nor the climate that determined their determination, nor the change of seasons that controlled the process of their becoming. Thus, with the works of that art, fate does not give us its world, not the spring and summer of moral life in which it flourished and matured, but only the veiled memory of that reality". Hegel calls the behaviour of the later ones towards the handed down works of art an "outward action", "which wipes away raindrops or dust from these fruits and, in place of the inner elements of the surrounding, producing and inspiring of morality, erects the extensive scaffolding of the dead elements of their outward existence, of language, of history, etc., not in order to live in them, but only to imagine them in themselves"(1). The true task of the thinking mind in relation to history, also in relation to the history of art, would not be an external one, according to Hegel, if the mind saw itself represented in it in a higher way. >Spirit/Hegel, >History/Hegel, >Art/Hegel. Gadamer I 174 HegelVsSchleiermacher/Gadamer: Here Hegel points beyond the whole dimension in which the problem of understanding arose in Schleiermacher. Hegel raises it to the basis on which he founded philosophy as the highest form of the absolute mind. In the absolute knowledge of philosophy that self-consciousness of the spirit is completed, which, as the text says, "in a higher way" also embraces the truth of art. Thus for Hegel it is philosophy, i.e. the historical self-penetration of the mind that accomplishes the hermeneutical task. It is the extreme counterposition to the self-forgetfulness of the historical consciousness. It transforms the historical behaviour of the imagination into a thinking behaviour towards the past. Cf. >F. Schleiermacher, >Truth of Art. 1. Hegel, Phänomenologie des Geistes, ed. Hoffmeister, S. 524._____________Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition. |
Gadamer I Hans-Georg Gadamer Wahrheit und Methode. Grundzüge einer philosophischen Hermeneutik 7. durchgesehene Auflage Tübingen 1960/2010 Gadamer II H. G. Gadamer The Relevance of the Beautiful, London 1986 German Edition: Die Aktualität des Schönen: Kunst als Spiel, Symbol und Fest Stuttgart 1977 |
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> Counter arguments against Hegel
> Counter arguments in relation to Hermeneutics
Ed. Martin Schulz, access date 2024-04-28