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Challenging Conceptions of Hermeneutics (Interpretation (hermeneuein -…

- - - - Systems of understanding are not theoretical but practical
        
        The Concept of the "Self"
        
        "Hermeneutic thinkers claim that our modern consciousness has been shaped in such a way that we imagine ourselves as islands of awareness floating in the grand ocean of life, disconnected from other selves" (11)
        
        Supported by Charles Taylor - The Disengaged Self
        
        Where does Knowledge fit in with all of this?
        
        "...more than naming and describing objects; it involves understanding meaningful structures we already participated in" (12)
        
        History and Historical Placement - Humans/we have become shaped by history and are then affected by it
        
        "The historicity of our existence is both the condition of, but also the limit to, our self-understanding. We can know what we are by studying the past expressions of life experience in texts, monuments, and cultural artefacts" (32)
        
        Humans as an active part of history but not dictating who people are
        
        Humans are able to discern aspects of their life and society around them due to their participation, thus forming elements of truth because of personal accounts and interactions
        
        "We need to redefine objective truth as something we take part in rather than something we merely observe from a distance. We don't make truth happen; rather truth is something that happens to us. Truth is an event" (13)
    - - "Hermeneutics is not a theory of interpretative principles but a philosophical analysis of the way we move about the world" (34)
      - Humans intrinsically and already are interpretative beings
        
        Heidegger's Hammer
        
        Become shaped by the external forces around us: language and cultural concepts
    - - Understanding cannot be deconstructed to mere method
        
        Applied theory to developments in art and texts
        
        Humans are then positioned as actors within the historical timeline, interacting and becoming affected by the elements around them
        
        Language and the linguistic situation provides an important exigency and quality for working knowledge
        
        "The reason we understand anything at all is because we already stand in it" (40)
- - - - Combination of philosophers and critics: see Roland Barthes, Foucault, Derrida as mirroring Heidegger, Gadamer, and Ricoeur
    - - "A reader's understanding of himself in his world is confronted by the text's world" (67)
      - Hermeneutic Circle of Understanding - connection not merely author/reader but also one's understanding of their immediate present and world