Philosophical hermeneutics and contemporary Muslim scholars’ approaches to interpreting scripture

2020 ◽  
pp. 019145372093191
Author(s):  
Ali Akbar
Keyword(s):  
Philosophical Hermeneutics ◽  
Political Discourses ◽  
Hermeneutic Philosophy ◽  
Textual Interpretation ◽  
German Philosopher ◽  
Hans Georg Gadamer ◽  
Muslim Scholars

Although the German philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer was not a religious thinker or theologian, his work and approach have influenced thinkers in the field of theology. This article explores some ‘overlaps’ between Gadamerian hermeneutics and the ideas of some contemporary Muslim scholars such as Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd, Abdolkarim Soroush, Muhammad Mujtahed Shabestari and Hassan Hanafi regarding issues of textual interpretation and understanding. In particular, the article seeks to understand how such ideas have appeared in these Muslim scholars’ approaches to interpreting the Qurʾan. It also explores some of the implications that follow from incorporating Gadamer’s ideas into Islamic theological and political discourses. The article argues that the application of Gadamer’s hermeneutic philosophy to the realm of Qurʾanic studies is not only fruitful insofar as it provides new insights into the interpretation of the Qurʾan, but also has important consequences for Islamic theological and political discourses more broadly.

Islamic Intellectualism

2011 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
Norman K. Swazo
Keyword(s):  
Philosophical Hermeneutics ◽  
Movement Theory ◽  
Western Modernity ◽  
Textual Interpretation ◽  
Double Movement ◽  
Human Understanding ◽  
German Philosopher ◽  
Truth And Method ◽  
Hans Georg Gadamer ◽  
Qur'anic Interpretation

The Pakistani scholar Fazlur Rahman disagreed with the German philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer on elements of philosophical hermeneutics as they bear upon interpretation of texts ‒ in this case, the interpretation of the Qur’ān. Rahman proposed a “double-movement” theory of Qur’ānic interpretation through which he hoped for the revival and reform of Islamic intellectualism in its encounter with Western modernity, but also with difference from Islamic orthodoxy’s conceptualization of ijtihād. In this paper, I examine Rahman’s concerns as they relate to Gadamer’s general approach to understanding history and textual interpretation. Rahman argued that if Gadamer’s thesis concerning the forestructure1 of human understanding is correct, then Rahman’s theory has no meaning at all. I conclude that there is reason to see Rahman’s theory as consistent with Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics, albeit with some modification given Rahman’s focus on psychologism and objectivity as part of his approach to Qur’ānic interpretation. It is the tyranny of hidden prejudices that makes us deaf to what speaks to us in tradition. Hans-Georg Gadamer, Truth and Method

Islamic Intellectualism

2011 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
Norman K. Swazo
Keyword(s):  
Philosophical Hermeneutics ◽  
Movement Theory ◽  
Western Modernity ◽  
Textual Interpretation ◽  
Double Movement ◽  
Human Understanding ◽  
German Philosopher ◽  
Truth And Method ◽  
Hans Georg Gadamer ◽  
Qur'anic Interpretation

The Pakistani scholar Fazlur Rahman disagreed with the German philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer on elements of philosophical hermeneutics as they bear upon interpretation of texts ‒ in this case, the interpretation of the Qur’ān. Rahman proposed a “double-movement” theory of Qur’ānic interpretation through which he hoped for the revival and reform of Islamic intellectualism in its encounter with Western modernity, but also with difference from Islamic orthodoxy’s conceptualization of ijtihād. In this paper, I examine Rahman’s concerns as they relate to Gadamer’s general approach to understanding history and textual interpretation. Rahman argued that if Gadamer’s thesis concerning the forestructure1 of human understanding is correct, then Rahman’s theory has no meaning at all. I conclude that there is reason to see Rahman’s theory as consistent with Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics, albeit with some modification given Rahman’s focus on psychologism and objectivity as part of his approach to Qur’ānic interpretation. It is the tyranny of hidden prejudices that makes us deaf to what speaks to us in tradition. Hans-Georg Gadamer, Truth and Method

Sources in the Meta-Theory of International Law

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Kemmerer
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Theoretical Approach ◽  
Legal Interpretation ◽  
Philosophical Hermeneutics ◽  
Time And Space ◽  
Contextual Theory ◽  
Hermeneutic Philosophy ◽  
Hans Georg Gadamer ◽  
Meta Theory

This chapter argues that a meta-theoretical approach to sources opens reflexive spaces, situates theories in time and space, and allows for a contextual interpretation of sources. Drawing on the hermeneutic philosophy of Hans-Georg Gadamer and the writings of his most perceptive readers in international law, the chapter develops a concept of reflexive situatedness. Following the traces of international law’s current ‘turn to interpretation’ and a reading of international law as ‘hermeneutical enterprise’, the chapter’s assessment of the limits and potentials of Gadamerian philosophical hermeneutics prepares the ground for an analysis of the writings of international lawyers who have developed theories of international legal interpretation inspired by his work. Gadamer’s conversational hermeneutics moreover opens new perspectives for a contextual theory and praxis of international legal interpretation. Such would allow for a more nuanced and dynamic understanding of sources and their interpreters within their respective interpretative communities.

Ricoeur, Paul (1913–2005)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
John B. Thompson ◽  
Roger Savage
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Philosophical Anthropology ◽  
Paul Ricoeur ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Philosophical Hermeneutics ◽  
Philosophical Orientation ◽  
German Philosopher ◽  
Hans Georg Gadamer

Paul Ricoeur was one of the leading thinkers of the second half of the twentieth century and in the later part of his life was considered by some to be France’s greatest living philosopher. Along with the German philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer, Ricoeur was one of the main contemporary exponents of philosophical hermeneutics: that is, of a philosophical orientation that places particular emphasis on the nature and role of interpretation. While his early work was strongly influenced by Edmund Husserl’s phenomenology, he became increasingly concerned with problems of interpretation and developed – partly through detailed inquiries into psychoanalysis and structuralism – a distinctive hermeneutical approach. In some of his subsequent writings Ricoeur explored the role of imagination in metaphor, narrative, and social and political life. In his later work, Ricoeur turned his attention to a philosophical anthropology of the capable human being, which was the context for his explorations into the self’s ethical constitution, the role of memory and forgetting in history, and issues of justice and recognition.

Ricoeur, Paul (1913–2005)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
John B. Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Paul Ricoeur ◽  
Philosophical Hermeneutics ◽  
Philosophical Orientation ◽  
Paul Ricœur ◽  
German Philosopher ◽  
Hans Georg Gadamer

Paul Ricoeur is one of the leading French philosophers of the second half of the twentieth century. Along with the German philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer, Ricoeur is one of the main contemporary exponents of philosophical hermeneutics: that is, of a philosophical orientation which places particular emphasis on the nature and role of interpretation. While his early work was strongly influenced by Husserl’s phenomenology, he became increasingly concerned with problems of interpretation and developed – partly through detailed inquiries into psychoanalysis and structuralism – a distinctive hermeneutical theory. In his later writings Ricoeur explores the nature of metaphor and narrative, which are viewed as ways of creating new meaning in language.

3. Philosophical hermeneutics

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jens Zimmermann
Keyword(s):  
Life Experience ◽  
Detailed Examination ◽  
Human Existence ◽  
Philosophical Hermeneutics ◽  
The World ◽  
Human Understanding ◽  
German Philosopher ◽  
Truth And Method ◽  
Hans Georg Gadamer ◽  
Basic Movement

Philosophical hermeneutics refers to the detailed examination of human understanding that began with the German philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900–2002). In his book, Truth and Method, Gadamer drew together many of the previously discussed insights from Schleiermacher, Dilthey, Husserl, and Heidegger to provide an extensive description of what understanding is. ‘Philosophical hermeneutics’ outlines Gadamer’s key views: he believed that our perception of the world is not primarily theoretical but practical; he regarded understanding as the basic movement of human existence that encompasses the whole of life experience; language is central to shaping our understanding of the world; mediation is the heart of the hermeneutic experience; and application is its soul.

Gadamer com Platão e o conhecimento na hermenêutica filosófica

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 23-38
Author(s):  
Cristian Marques
Keyword(s):  
Sao Paulo ◽  
Harvard University ◽  
British Society ◽  
São Paulo ◽  
Empirical Knowledge ◽  
Philosophical Hermeneutics ◽  
Porto Alegre ◽  
Belo Horizonte ◽  
Hans Georg Gadamer ◽  
Shed Light

Resumo: O objetivo deste artigo é explicitar aspectos da interpretação de Gadamer à Carta Sétima de Platão que lancem luz sobre quais traços fundamentais são imprescindíveis a uma epistemologia que se ancore na hermenêutica filosófica. Merold Westphal propôs em um artigo que a hermenêutica filosófica poderia fornecer elementos para uma renovação da epistemologia analítica. O presente trabalho inscreve-se no interesse amplo de tratar sobre que implicações teriam para noção de conhecimento se a epistemologia seguisse o caminho apontado por Westphal. Para tanto, escolhemos um trabalho onde Hans Georg Gadamer, principal defensor da hermenêutica filosófica, explora uma interpretação fenomenológica de Platão em que identificamos elementos relevantes para pensar a noção de conhecimento dentro dessa chave de leitura. Hans-Georg Gadamer explora, sob a luz de sua concepção ontológico-hermenêutica, o texto da Carta Sétima, dando um entendimento renovado a alguns aspectos da obra platônica, bem como indicações a uma compreensão fenomenológica do conhecimento.  Palavras-chave: Teoria do Conhecimento. Gadamer. Platão. Carta Sétima. Hermenêutica.   Abstract: The aim of this article is to make explicit aspects of Gadamer 's interpretation of Plato's Seventh Letter that shed light on what fundamental traits are indispensable to an epistemology that is anchored in philosophical hermeneutics. Merold Westphal proposed in an article that philosophical hermeneutics could provide elements for a renewal of analytic epistemology. This paper is part of the broader interest of discussing what implications would have for the notion of knowledge if epistemology followed the path Westphal pointed out. For this, we chose a work where Hans Georg Gadamer, the main defender of philosophical hermeneutics, explores a phenomenological interpretation of Plato in which we identify relevant elements to think the notion of knowledge within this key of reading. Hans-Georg Gadamer explores, in the light of his ontological-hermeneutic conception, the text of the Seventh Letter, giving a renewed understanding to some aspects of the Platonic work, as well as indications to a phenomenological understanding of knowledge.  Keywords: Theory of Knowledge. Gadamer. Plato. Seventh Letter. Hermeneutics. REFERÊNCIASBONJOUR, L. The structure of empirical knowledge. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1985.GADAMER, H.-G. Dialektik ist nicht Sophistik. Theätet lernt das im Sophistes. In: Griechische Philosophie. t.3. Gesammelte Werke, Bd. 7. Tubingen: Mohr, 1985c [1990], pp.338-370._______. Dialektik und Sophistik im siebenten Platonischen Brief. In: Griechische Philosophie. t.2. Gesammelte Werke, Bd. 6. Tubingen: Mohr, 1985b [1964], pp.90-115._______. Die phänomenologische Bewegung. In: Neuere Philosophie, t. 1; Hegel, Husserl, Heidegger. Gesammelte Werke, Bd. 3. Tubingen: Mohr, 1987 [1963], pp.105-146._______. Hegel und Heidegger. In: Neuere Philosophie, t. 1; Hegel, Husserl, Heidegger. Gesammelte Werke, Bd. 3. Tubingen: Mohr, 1987 [1971], pp.87-101._______. Platos dialektische Ethik. In: Griechische Philosophie. t.1. Gesammelte Werke, Bd. 5. Tubingen: Mohr, 1985a [1931], pp.3-163._______. Platos dialektische Ethik - beim Wort genommen. In: Griechische Philosophie. t.3.  Gesammelte Werke, Bd. 7. Tubingen: Mohr, 1985c [1989], pp.121-127._______. Praktisches Wissen. In: Griechische Philosophie. t.1. Gesammelte Werke, Bd. 5. Tubingen: Mohr, 1985a [1930], pp.230-248._______. Wahrheit und Methode: Grundzüge einer philosophischen Hermeneutik. In: Hermeneutik I. Gesammelte Werke, Bd. 1. Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1990 [1960].GRONDIN, J. Einführung zu Gadamer. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2000._______. Von Heidegger zu Gadamer: Unterwegs zur Hermeneutik. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft – WBG, 2001.HEIDEGGER, M. Sein und Zeit. 19. Faksimile-Ausgabe der 1. Ausgabe. Tübingen: Verlag, 2006 [1927].PLATÃO. Opera Platonis. Recognovit brevique adnotatione critica instruxit Ioannes Burnet. Scriptorum Classicorum. Bibliotheca Oxoniensis, v.1-6. Oxford: Clarendoniano Typographeo, 1900.///RORTY, R. A filosofia e o espelho da natureza. Rio de Janeiro: Relume-Dumará, 1994.ROHDEN, L. Filosofa enquanto Fenomenologia e Hermenêutica à luz da Carta VII de Platão. In: BOMBASSARO, L. C.; DALBOSCO, C. A.; KUIAVA, E. A., (org.). Pensar Sensível. Festscrift ao prof. Jayme Paviani. Caxias do Sul, RS: Educs, 2011, pp. 87-104._______. Filosofando com Gadamer e Platão: movimentos, momentos e método[s] da dialética. Dissertatio, 36 (2012), pp. 105-130. Disponível em: <http://dx.doi.org/10.15210/dissertatio.v36i0.8660> (acessado em 09.08.2018)._______. Hermenêutica e[m] resposta ao elogio da verdadeira filosofia da Carta Sétima de Platão. In: Kriterion, Belo Horizonte, v. 54, 127 (2013), p. 25-42. Disponível em: <http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0100-512X2013000100002&lng=en&nrm=iso > (acessado em 17.09.2018)._______. Filosofar com Gadamer e Platão: hermenêutica filosófica a partir da Carta Sétima. 1. ed. São Paulo: Annablume, 2018.SMITH, P. C. H.-G. Gadamer’s Heideggerian Interpretation of Plato. In: Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology, Stockport, England, v. 12, 3 (1981), pp. 211–230. Disponível em: <https://doi.org/10.1080/00071773.1981.11007544> (acessado em 06.07.2018).VALENTIM, I. A Carta VII, o manifesto e a autobiografia política de Platão. In: Revista Opinião Filosófica, Porto Alegre, v. 3, 1 (2012), pp-60-72. Disponível em: <http://periodico.abavaresco.com.br/index.php/opiniaofilosofica/article/view/435> (acessado em 17.09.2018).WESTPHAL, M. A hermenêutica enquanto epistemologia. In: GRECO, J.; SOSA, E. (orgs.). Compêndio de Epistemologia. São Paulo: Loyola, 2008. pp. 645-676. 

Interaction between patient and health professional

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anita Naemi Holm
Keyword(s):  
Health Professional ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Richard Rorty ◽  
Cultural Encounter ◽  
Theoretical View ◽  
German Philosopher ◽  
The One ◽  
Hans Georg Gadamer ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Do So

This article presents a theoretical view on culturally embedded thinking and action in encounters between patient and health professional. A key point of the analysis indicates that a highly efficient health sector may entail an implicit duality: on the one hand, the health professional can and often must relate pragmatically to the patient in order to solve problems and do so quickly, while on the other, the professional may be personally challenged when embedded cultural thinking leads to conflicts or dilemmas. This means that a purely pragmatic perspective will be challenged when such conflicts arise. The article looks at interrelated concepts such as ‘culture’, ‘prejudice’ and ‘meaning’ in order to shed light on the presuppositions that are brought into the cultural encounter between patient and health professional. This kind of analysis will hopefully contribute to a raised awareness of what is actually – apart from pragmatic problem solving – going on in such encounters. The conceptual framework used in this article primarily draws on the German philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer, which is contrasted with the pragmatic perspective from the American philosopher Richard Rorty.

Hans-Georg Gadamer, Truth and Method

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua Foa Dienstag
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Identity Politics ◽  
Human Relationship ◽  
Textual Interpretation ◽  
Post Modernism ◽  
Truth And Method ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
Political Value ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Hans Georg Gadamer

Hans-Georg Gadamer’s Truth and Method offers a distinctive account of the human relationship to language and history. The book had a transformative effect on many fields, including political theory. It offers a persuasive hermeneutic theory of what the obstacles to and possibilities for textual interpretation actually are and thus forms an account of the proper practice of political theory that is superior to the rival claims of historicism, Straussianism, or post-modernism. Simultaneously, it offers an account of the relationship of individuals to language-communities that recognizes their significance for cultures and persons without reifying their moral or political value. Gadamer’s account of language points toward openness and democracy rather than identity politics or nationalism.

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