The Approach of Hermeneutics
The approach of hermeneutics does not assume that all reasoning can be considered within some foundational belief, but rather must be interpreted in their own terms. Hermeneutics is therefore in conflict with many current cultural traditions descended from the dialectic. It is also directly contrasted with deconstruction, which has radically different conclusions about the results of textual analysis. To read and understand a text of Ricoeur is not to understand it in one way, now and forever. There is no "science" of interpretation, which affords the one correct, true reading. The possibility of understanding arises from "the totally positive relation of belonging." The "world" of the text and the "world" of the reader come across each other in a "fusion of horizons" that occurs in front of the text. Because in written discourse there is a distance in time and space separating the author and potential readers, there is a radical alienation that separates the reader from the sense of the author and the reference of the text. This distance functions like the dissimilarity in metaphor and the conflict of meanings in symbols. By reducing the conflict in meanings between the dissimilar "worlds" of t
. . . [I]n explanation we ex-plicate or unfold the range of propositions and meanings, where as in understanding we comprehend or grasp as a whole the chain of partial meanings in one act of synthesis (Ricoeur 1976, 72.) Explanation corresponds to critical thinking, in science terms, that brakes down the elements or principles of the composition. A reader stands ready at a distance in order to objectify the text, to analyze link patterns and structures, as well as, the historical, social, and psychological contexts, which give rise to a text and previous interpretations of that text. However powerful these investigative lenses may be in interpreting a text, they are not "a presuppositionless grasp of a pregiven being" -- the reader will not be able to see the full message the writer is trying to communicate, there is no transparent, direct reading of the text in itself. The reader will only receive the information that relates to the reader were as some information might affect at a stronger level between other readers. In interpretation, we approach a text with some kind of prior understanding or prejudgement. We then move to reading and analyzing the text in the stage of explanation, seeking to discover how and why the text works. From Ricoeu
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Approximate Word count = 846
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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