10
Circular Foundations
The second broad dimension of dialogue to be dealt with is hermeneutics and
particularly the work of Hans-Georg Gadamer. It is important briefly to situate
and explain the term hermeneutics. The term ‘hermeneutics’ derives from the name
Hermes—the divine messenger of the gods to humanity. At its simplest, hermeneutics
denotes an art, science, or skill of interpretation. Traditionally, it has been associated
with the effort to interpret and understand the unfamiliar text, work of art, historical
event, or possibly even conversation. It is therefore concerned with bridging the gap
between the familiar and unfamiliar through interpretation.
Its roots, as an approach, lie, first, in seventeenth century German reformation bib-
lical studies. Martin Luther’s writings are cited, for example, by Wilhelm Dilthey as
hermeneutical in character—although some also see the hermeneutic perspective as
implicit in much earlier theological writers such as St Augustine. There is an extensive
amount of Biblical scholarship in this area. The second major development of her-
meneutics is found in the philologically orientated work of the German theologian
Friedrich Schleiermacher. His focus is, again, primarily religious, yet, he considered
thought as a whole as both linguistically based and interpretive. Schleiermacher tries,
in effect, to formulate a consistent and universal ‘method’ or ‘rule’ of interpretation.
The hermeneutic interpreter must, for example, aim, in trying to grasp a text, to
master the generic and grammatical character of the language, which underpins the
text, as well as its more idiosyncratic employment by the individual author. Schleier-
macher also calls for a more psychologically orientated understanding of the author.
For Schleiermacher, therefore, no text is straightforward. It has to be reconstructed
by disciplined methods, which will address the historical and linguistic context from
which the text emanated. Schleiermacher’s emphasis therefore falls on the interpret-
ive efforts of placing the author and text in a linguistic and historically constituted
universe, in order to comprehend its meanings.
Schleiermacher’s most famous biographer, Wilhelm Dilthey, forms the third key
figure of the hermeneutic tradition. In Dilthey, there is a continuation of some of
Schleiermacher’s ideas. Human action is meaningful activity. Part of the aim of the
observer is also to try to grasp the intentions of the author. Dilthey accepted, and
is a theorist closely associated with, the distinction between human or moral sci-
ences (Geisteswissenshaften) and natural sciences (Naturwissenschaften). This became
a central theme in later nineteenth century German historical scholarship. The natural
sciences deal with matter and natural causation. In the human or moral sciences we
deal with human beings, who reflect and try to embody meanings into their activity.