Overview

Originally developed for interpreting the Bible (how do we understand God’s word?), Hermeneutics expanded in the 19th and 20th centuries to become a general theory of human understanding. In aesthetics, it asks: How do we interpret a work of art? Is the meaning fixed by the artist, or does it change depending on the viewer’s historical context?

Core Idea

The core idea is the Hermeneutic Circle: to understand the whole (the book), you must understand the parts (the sentences); but to understand the parts, you must have a sense of the whole. Understanding is a circular, dynamic process. Furthermore, we always approach a text with pre-understanding (prejudices/expectations) shaped by our culture. We cannot be blank slates.

Formal Definition

Hans-Georg Gadamer, the most important modern hermeneutic philosopher, defined understanding as a “fusion of horizons.” The horizon of the text (its historical context) meets the horizon of the reader (our present context). Meaning is what happens in the middle. It is a dialogue, not a dissection.

Intuition

Imagine reading Hamlet. A 17th-century audience saw it as a revenge tragedy. A 19th-century audience saw it as a study of melancholy. A 20th-century audience saw it through Freud (Oedipus complex). Who is right? Hermeneutics says: Everyone. The meaning of Hamlet is not a hidden diamond to be dug up; it is the history of all these interpretations. The play grows as history grows.

Examples

  • Legal Interpretation: Judges use hermeneutics to interpret laws. Does the Constitution mean what the founders thought, or what we need it to mean today?
  • Translation: Translating a poem is a hermeneutic act. You can’t just swap words; you have to interpret the spirit of the poem and recreate it in a new language.
  • Art Restoration: Deciding whether to clean a painting to look “new” or leave the “patina” of age is a hermeneutic decision about how we value the past.

Common Misconceptions

  • It means “anything goes”: It doesn’t mean any interpretation is valid (e.g., “Hamlet is an alien”). The text offers resistance. It is a dialogue, not a monologue.
  • It’s just about books: Hermeneutics applies to all understanding—understanding a person, a culture, or a work of art.
  • The Death of the Author: Hermeneutics agrees that the author’s intent is not the final word, but it emphasizes the tradition of interpretation more than the radical freedom of the reader.
  • Phenomenology: The study of experience. Hermeneutics is often called “hermeneutic phenomenology” (Heidegger) because it studies the experience of understanding.
  • Exegesis: The practical application of interpretation (actually reading the text), whereas hermeneutics is the theory of how we do it.

Applications

  • Theology: Still the primary home of hermeneutics (how to read sacred texts in a secular world).
  • Humanities: It provides the philosophical justification for the humanities (history, literature, art) as distinct from the natural sciences. We explain nature, but we understand culture.

Criticism / Limitations

  • Conservatism: Critics (like Habermas) argue that Gadamer’s respect for “tradition” and “authority” makes hermeneutics too conservative, unable to critique the ideologies hidden in the text.
  • Relativism: If meaning always changes, is there no objective truth? Hermeneutics struggles to answer this without falling into total relativism.

Further Reading

  • Gadamer, Hans-Georg. Truth and Method. 1960. (The magnum opus of the field).
  • Ricoeur, Paul. The Conflict of Interpretations. 1969.
  • Palmer, Richard E. Hermeneutics. 1969.