DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 427 988 SO 029 435

AUTHOR Byrne, Michelle M.

TITLE Hermeneutics 101.
PUB DATE 1998-00-00
NOTE 11p.
PUB TYPE Information Analyses (070)
EDRS PRICE MF01/PC01 Plus Postage.
DESCRIPTORS Critical Theory; *Hermeneutics; Higher Education;
*Phenomenology; Research Methodology; Social Studies
IDENTIFIERS Gadamer (Hans Georg); Heidegger (Martin); Historical
Background; Husserl (Edmund); *Textual Analysis

ABSTRACT
This paper provides a historical background of hermeneutics,
a method of textual analysis that is an "artful" form of understanding and a
process of exposing hidden meanings. The paper discusses the evolution of
hermeneutics, as well as the philosophical influences of Edmund Husserl,
Martin Heidegger, and Hans-Georg Gadamer. Noting that a close link between
phenomenology and hermeneutics has resulted in the terms often being used
interchangeably and universally, the paper points out that philosophical
beliefs differ among phenomenologists and hermeneutic philosophers.
Phenomenologists focus on the lived experience of persons eliciting
commonalities and shared meanings, whereas hermeneutics refers to an
interpretation of language. The paper compares and contrasts these
perspectives by summarizing the philosophical assumptions of Husserl,
Heidegger, and Gadamer. It explores concepts such as bracketing, prejudice,
horizon, historical consciousness, and hermeneutic circle. A blending of
critical social theory and hermeneutics has resulted in a methodology of
critical hermeneutics. This methodology emphasizes an interpretation of
language, as well as silence, while also situating the text and the
interpreter in their socio-cultural traditions. (Contains 20 references.)
(BT)

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Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made
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 Hermeneutics 101.

by Michelle M. Byrne

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 Hermeneutics 101

Michelle M. Byrne RN, MS, PhD (C)

Georgia State University

Hermeneutics, a method of textual analysis, means to interpret. Hermeneutics is an

artful form of understanding and a process of exposing hidden meanings. Historically,

hermeneutics has been associated with the interpretation of biblical texts. This presentation

will provide a historical background of hermeneutics. The evolution of hermeneutics will

be discussed, as well as the philosophical influences of Husserl, Heidegger, and Gadamer.

A close link between phenomenology and hermeneutics has resulted in the terms

often being used interchangeably and universally. However, philosophical beliefs differ
among phenomenologists and hermeneutic philosophers. Phenomenologists focus on the
lived experience of persons eliciting commonalities and shared meanings, whereas

hermeneutics refers to an interpretation of language. Yet, there is no absolute or universal

definition of either hermeneutics or phenomenology. These perspectives will be compared

and contrasted by summarizing the philosophical assumptions of Edmund Husserl, Martin

Heidegger, and Hans-Georg Gadamer. Concepts such as bracketing, prejudice, horizon,

historical consciousness, and hermeneutic circle will be explored. A blending of critical

social theory and hermeneutics has resulted in a methodology of critical hermeneutics.

This methodology emphasizes an interpretation of language, as well as silence, while also

situating the text and the interpreter in their socio-cultural traditions.

Hermeneutics

Hermeneutics, a method of textual analysis, emphasizes the sociocultural and historic

influences on inquiry. Hermeneutics pertains to the process of exposing hidden meanings

(Allen, 1995; Kisiel, 1985). Hermeneutics has historically been associated with the

interpretation of biblical texts. According to Thompson (1990, p. 230), hermeneutics was

"derived from the Greek verb, henneneueuein, 'to interpret,' and from the noun, hermeneia,

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or interpretation'." Hermeneutics is an artful form of understanding (Wiehl, 1990). The

evolution of hermeneutics will be discussed, as well as the philosophical orientation

supporting this study. This second chapter concludes with a discussion of critical

hermeneutics, based on the philosophies of Heidegger and Gadamer.

In the 19th century, hermeneutics moved from an analysis of texts to a perspective

oriented to understanding human science. Gadamer (1975/1994) described Schleirmacher,

an early hermeneutic philosopher, as searching for a theory to reconstruct literary work in

the understanding as it was originally intended. Dilthey, expanded Schleirmacher's work,

and "rethought his notion of understanding to mean the ability to reconstruct the same
intentionality or symbolism of the agent" (Hiraki, 1989, p. 23). This conceptualization
resulted in the notion of intersubjectitivy, a common thread of current hermeneutic

understanding. Intersubjectivity assumes persons share a common world.

A close link between phenomenology and hermeneutics has resulted in the terms

being used interchangeably and universally. Yet, philosophical beliefs differ among

phenomenologists and hermeneutic philosophers. Phenomenologists focus on the lived

experience of persons eliciting commonalities and shared meanings, whereas hermeneutics

refers to an interpretation of language. However, there is no absolute or universal definition

of either hermeneutics or phenomenology.

Husserlian Hermeneutics

Edmund Husserl was an early phenomenologist philosopher, as well as a

mathematician. Mathematics influenced his view of epistemology. He sought a logical

method of discovering the experience of consciousness. An idealist, he believed that all

matter was reduced to mental states. Husserl's basis of knowledge or epistemology was

actualized by reducing, or bracketing as he called it, our consciousness to ascertain the

essences of the phenomena in question. For example, if I wanted to know about water, I

would bracket everything I already knew about water. Bracketing would enable me to

identify the essences constituting water that were free of my prior experiences with water.

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Yet, if I carry this concept to the extreme, if I "bracket" even the concept of water, how

can I know what my inquiry is about? Bracketing assumes persons can separate their
knowledge from their lived experiences. Thompson (1990) described three concepts of

Husserlian phenomenology subscribed to by researchers using this perspective: "(1) an

analysis of the subject and object-as-the-object-appears-through-consciousness, (2) an

emphasis on bracketing or epoche as a method for suspending naive realist awareness, and
(3) an emphasis on describing the full appearance of the object of inquiry" (p. 233).

Husserlian phenomenology has been used as a theoretical perspective for some

nursing studies (Oiler, 1982; Omery, 1983). The term and method of "bracketing" is

embedded in Husserlian beliefs yet often applied universally to phenomenology (Grams,

1993, Oiler, 1982; Ornery, 1983). However, the assumptions underlying bracketing are not

universally accepted by many phenomenologists and researchers (Benner, 1984;

Diekelmann, 1993; & Maloney, 1993). A Heideggarean perspective of understanding

challenges the assumption of bracketing.

Heideggerean Hermeneutics

Many of Husserl's perspectives were reconceived by his junior colleague, Martin

Heidegger. Heidegger emphasized the ontology of Being as opposed to the epistemologic

question of knowing. A person, a Being-in-the-World, cannot be separated from the world.

Heidegger's philosophy offered an alternate world view from Husserl's belief of a subject-
object split. As human-being or Dasien, our meaning is codeveloped through being born

human and through our life experiences and background. Heidegger acknowledged our

background as "throwness." Persons are "thrown" or born into a particular gender, culture,

and history. While throwness prohibits an objective viewpoint, it enables persons to have

shared practices and common meanings by virtue of the fact that they share a similar kind

of Being. Heidegger did not believe it was possible to "bracket" our assumptions of the

world. Yet, through authentic reflection we may be able to become aware of many of our

assumptions. Heideggarian hermeneutics can be defined as a way to "interpret the shared

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meanings and practices that we have for our experiences within a context" (Maloney, 1993;
p. 40).

The concept of a hermeneutic circle was introduced by Heidegger as a way to

understand our Being-in-the-World. As Tina Koch (1995), a nurse researcher stated in her
article that described the interpretive approaches for nursing research: "For Heidegger,

understanding is no longer conceived of as a way of knowing but as a mode of being, as a

fundamental characteristic of our 'being' in the world" (p. 831). As a research methodology,

hermeneutics assumes meaning making embedded in the process of dialogue between

interpreter and narrator. The hermeneutic circle is a way of articulating and interpretating
discourse. This way of understanding assumes dialogue and movement between wholes of

texts and parts of texts. Heidegger believed that language was constituent of our Being
because language preceded us. Language enables people to identify phenomena. However,

language may also be restrictive by limiting our understanding of the world.

Gadamerian Hermeneutics

Hans-Georg Gadamer extended Heidegger's work on hermeneutics by emphasizing

the embeddedness of language in our understanding of our world. In 1975, Hans-Georg
Gadamer's text, entitled Truth and Method, identified the necessity of historical

consciousness within hermeneutics. My interpretation of Gadamer's work is that he extends

philosophical hermeneutics to critical hermeneutics by stressing the importance of tradition,

or background, in our ways of understanding. Gadamer (1975, 1976) asserted that

understanding was always a historical, dialectic, and linguistic event. This understanding

occurs from interpretations embedded within our linguistic and cultural traditions (Annells,
1996; Pascoe, 1996).

Prejudice, defined by Gadamer (1976), was prejudgment. Prejudices are our

preconceived notions of things, emanating from our past experience and socialization. In

the positivist/empirical and Husserlian views of truth, the way to eradicate prejudice was to

maintain objectivity by "bracketing" experiences. However, Heidegger and Gadamer

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believed this was impossible. To understand another we cannot shed our past experience,

because it is this past experience that actually facilitates understanding another. Experience

is an ongoing examination of status quo. Gadamer advocated continual striving to explicate

our prejudices. The philosophers Grondin (1990) and Maguire (1991), in their writings of

Gadamer, identified the importance of understanding of our prejudices. Grondin stated,

For whomever pronounces himself or herself free of prejudices is all the more

blindly exposed to their power. Prejudices will exercise their underground

domination all the more strongly, and potentially distortingly, when denied or
repressed. (p. 54)
Maguire (1991) stated
To be engaged in a conversation with a text is to bring one's prejudices into play. On

the basis of one's prejudices' one is able to understand the content of what the text
says. The reader is engaged from a definite point of view and is only able to

understand the content of the text from this perspective. The very fact that we

question the text suggests that we are trying to transcend our own prejudices.
(p. 40)
This quote is also reiterated by Koch (1995) who believed that Gadamer's contribution to

research methodology is the attention to detail and judgement-making in the research

process. The prejudices of the researcher originate from the researcher's historical

background. Rather than being an impediment to knowledge making, it is the researcher's

values that provide contextual meaning to their consumers. Therefore one research

implication of critical hermeneutics is explicating a lens for analysis. Another research

implication is making the researcher's judgements explicit, can be done by the researcher

documenting decisions in a research journal.

Another Gadamerian concept is the metaphor of horizon. Conscious awareness is one

definition of horizon. According to Maguire "having a horizon entails being aware of the

limits of one's perspectives" (p. 108). In an article on hermeneutic phenomenology, Merilyn

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Anne lls (1996) described the aim of hermeneutic inquiry as the "fusion of horizons of the
interpreter and the text" (p. 707).

Gadamer (1975, 1976) advocated dialogue or conversation as a way of uncovering

knowledge and reducing the embedded political power in our discourse. Gadamer stressed

the importance of reflection and conversation in knowing. Conversation assumes mutuality

of question and answer (Gadamer, 1976; Wright, 1990). Gadamer proposed that through

conversation with the text or with one another an event of understanding will occur that

can not be predicted nor controlled. He believed that true conversation is when persons are
open and equally participative and interested in achieving common understanding.

Gadamer's perspective of dialogue is congruent with what Henry Giroux (1992) labeled as

crossing the borders, minimizing the established boundaries between margin and center. For
this study, an assumption is that the borders of our perspectives are influenced by our racial

backgrounds, historical consciousness, language, and prejudices. A lens of racial bias may
assist us in crossing the borders and broadening our horizon that were handed down to us
through our cultural upbringing.

Gadamer's hermeneutics supports the mutuality of theory and practice or praxis. The
meaning of praxis is a holism of language, knowing, and action. In noting Gadamer's

concept of understanding, Grondin (1990) stated

Gadamer is again inspired by the rhetorical tradition in stressing the role application

plays in acquiring an understanding. To understand a text or a meaning is always to

know how to apply it to our situation. The application, however, is not a process

that begins after understanding. There is not first understanding and only later an

application of what is understood to the present. To understand and to apply to

one's own situation constitute, according to Gadamer, one and the same
hermeneutic event. (pp. 51-52)

In examining the language of race, class or gender, one must acknowledge differences

as well as an ongoing examination of our prejudices. This is contrasted with a current

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cultural belief of ignoring difference or practicing color-blindness in the pursuit of equality.

Critical hermeneutics emphasizes an interpretation of language as well as examining

omissions. Methodologic implications of Gadamer support a method of interpretive content

analysis in contrast to a research method of content analysis of absolute and universally

defined words and categories. Critical hermeneutics supports a method for identifying and

critiquing language or silence embedded within socio-cultural traditions. This may be done
through the researcher's horizon or lens of analysis.
 8

References

Allen, D. (1995). Hermeneutics: Philosophical traditions and nursing

practice research. Nursing Science Quarterly. 8 (4), 174-182.
Anne lls, M. (1996). Hermeneutic phenomenology: Philosophical
perspectives and current use in nursing research. Journal of Advanced Nursing
23, 705-713.
Benner, P. (1984). From novice to expert: Clinical judgment making in
m-sing. Menlo Park, CA: Addison-Wesley.
Diekelmann, N. (1993). Behavioral pedagogy: A Heideggerian
hermeneutical analysis of the lived experiences of students and teachers in
baccalaureate nursing education. Journal of Nursing Education, 32 (6), 245-
250.

Gadamer, H. (1994). Truth and method. (J. Weinsheimer & D. G.

Marshall, Trans.). New York: Continuum. (Original work published 1975)
Gadamer, H. (1976). Philosophical hermeneutics. (D. E. Linge, Trans.).
Berkeley: University of California Press.
Giroux, H. (1992). Border crossings: Cultural workers and the politics of
education. London: Routledge.
Grams, K. (1993). Writing a dialogue journal for three quarters: The
lived experience of seven graduate nursing students and their teachers.
Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Georgia State University, Atlanta.
Grondin, J. (1990). Hermeneutics and relativism. In K. Wright (Ed.)
Festivals of interpretation: Essays on Hans-Georg Gadamer's work. New York:
State University of New York Press.
Hiraki, A. (1989). Tradition, rationality, and power in introductory
nursing textbooks: A critical hermeneutics study. Unpublished doctoral
dissertation, University of San Francisco, California.

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Kisiel, T. (1985). The happening of tradition: The hermeneutics of

Gadamer and Heidegger. In R. Hollinger (Ed.), Hermeneutics and praxis.
Nortre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.
Koch, T. (1995). Interpretive approaches in nursing research: The
influence of Husserl and Heidegger. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 21, 827-836.
Maguire, S. J. (1991). Gadamer's hermeneutics: Criticism and
community. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Queen's University, Kingston,
Ontario, Canada.
Maloney, M. (1993). Silent strength: A Heideggerian hermeneutical
analysis of the stories of older women. Unpublished doctoral dissertation,
Georgia State University, Atlanta.
Oiler, C. (1982). The phenomenological approach in nursing research.
Nursing Research, 31 (3), 178-181.
Ornery, A. (1983). Phenomenology: A method for nursing research.
Advances in Nursing Science, 5 (2), 49-63.
Pascoe, E. (1996). The value to nursing research of Gadamer's
hermeneutic philosophy. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 24, 1309-1314.
Thompson, J. (1990). Hermeneutic inquiry. In L. E. Moody (Ed.),
Advancing nursing science through research. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Wiehl, R. (1990). Scheierrnacher's Hermeneutics. In K. Wright (Ed.)
Festivals of interpretation: Essays on Hans-Georg Gadamer's work. New York:
State University of New York Press.
Wright, K. (1990) Festivals of interpretation: Essays on Hans-Georg
Gadamer's Work. New York: State University of New York Press.

11
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