hermeneutics
Quick Summary
Hermeneutics is the study of interpretive principles, primarily focused on understanding texts. Historically, it has been central to the interpretation of religious texts, most notably the Bible in Judaism and Christianity, with the goal of uncovering divine truths and values.12
Different approaches to hermeneutics exist, including:
* Literal interpretation: Focusing on the plain, grammatical, and historical meaning of a text.1
* Moral interpretation: Drawing ethical lessons from biblical passages.1
* Allegorical interpretation: Finding a deeper, symbolic meaning beyond the explicit text, often seeing Old Testament events as foreshadowing New Testament ones.1
* Anagogical interpretation: Interpreting events in relation to the afterlife or mystical significance.1
In modern, non-religious contexts, hermeneutics refers to the philosophical study of interpretation itself.1
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Indian philosophyThe Purva-mimamsa-sutras and Shabara’s commentaryof meaning and hermeneutics (critical interpretations). Jaimini, who composed sutras about the 4th century bce, was critical of earlier Mimamsa authors, particularly of one Badari, to whom is attributed the view that the Vedic injunctions are meant to be obeyed without the expectation of benefits for oneself. According…
Read Moreof meaning and hermeneutics (critical interpretations). Jaimini, who composed sutras about the 4th century bce, was critical of earlier Mimamsa authors, particularly of one Badari, to whom is attributed the view that the Vedic injunctions are meant to be obeyed without the expectation of benefits for oneself. According…
Read More- Indian philosophyHermeneutics and semantics
In their principles of interpretation of the scriptures, and consequently in their theories of meaning (of words and of sentences), the two schools differ radically. Prabhakara defended the thesis that words primarily mean either some course of action (karya) or things connected…
Read MoreIn their principles of interpretation of the scriptures, and consequently in their theories of meaning (of words and of sentences), the two schools differ radically. Prabhakara defended the thesis that words primarily mean either some course of action (karya) or things connected…
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continental philosophyGadamer…development of the theory of hermeneutics (the philosophical study of interpretation, broadly construed), Gadamer stressed the inevitable historical situatedness of the interpretive process; he therefore rejected the ideal of an objective, or universally valid, interpretation grounded in allegedly universal principles of rationality or logic. He insisted instead that questions of…
Read More…development of the theory of hermeneutics (the philosophical study of interpretation, broadly construed), Gadamer stressed the inevitable historical situatedness of the interpretive process; he therefore rejected the ideal of an objective, or universally valid, interpretation grounded in allegedly universal principles of rationality or logic. He insisted instead that questions of…
Read More- Hans-Georg Gadamer
…philosopher whose system of philosophical hermeneutics, derived in part from concepts of Wilhelm Dilthey, Edmund Husserl, and Martin Heidegger, was influential in 20th-century philosophy, aesthetics, theology, and criticism.
Read More…philosopher whose system of philosophical hermeneutics, derived in part from concepts of Wilhelm Dilthey, Edmund Husserl, and Martin Heidegger, was influential in 20th-century philosophy, aesthetics, theology, and criticism.
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Martin Heideggerhumanistic discipline, including literary criticism, hermeneutics, psychology, and theology.
Read Morehumanistic discipline, including literary criticism, hermeneutics, psychology, and theology.
Read More- phenomenologyHeidegger’s hermeneutic phenomenology
Martin Heidegger, one of Germany’s foremost philosophers of the first half of the 20th century, was inspired to philosophy through Brentano’s work Von der mannigfachen Bedeutung des Seienden nach Aristoteles (1862; On the Several Senses of Being in Aristotle). While he was still…
Read MoreMartin Heidegger, one of Germany’s foremost philosophers of the first half of the 20th century, was inspired to philosophy through Brentano’s work Von der mannigfachen Bedeutung des Seienden nach Aristoteles (1862; On the Several Senses of Being in Aristotle). While he was still…
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