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

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, Hans-Georg (1900–2002)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen Wright
Keyword(s):  
Being And Time ◽  
Philosophical Hermeneutics ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Paul Celan ◽  
The Core ◽  
Human Understanding ◽  
Important Publication ◽  
Truth And Method ◽  
Absolute Knowledge ◽  
Hans Georg Gadamer

Hans-Georg Gadamer is best known for his philosophical hermeneutics. Gadamer studied with Martin Heidegger during his preparation of Being and Time (1927). Like Heidegger, Gadamer rejects the idea of hermeneutics as merely a method for the human and historical sciences comparable to the method of the natural sciences. Philosophical hermeneutics is instead about a process of human understanding that is inevitably circular because we come to understand the whole through the parts and the parts through the whole. Understanding in this sense is not an ‘act’ that can be secured methodically and verified objectively. It is an ‘event’ or ‘experience’ that we undergo. It occurs paradigmatically in our experience of works of art and literature. But it also takes place in our disciplined and scholarly study of the works of other human beings in the humanities and social sciences. In each case, understanding brings self-understanding. Philosophical hermeneutics advocates a mediated approach to self-understanding on the model of a conversation with the texts and works of others. The concept of dialogue employed here is one of question and answer and is taken from Plato. Such understanding never becomes absolute knowledge. It is finite because we remain conditioned by our historical situation, and partial because we are interested in the truth that we come to understand. By grounding understanding in language and dialogue as opposed to subjectivity, Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics avoids the danger of arbitrariness in interpreting the works of others. Gadamer’s most important publication is Wahrheit und Methode (Truth and Method) (1960). He also published four volumes of short works, Kleine Schriften (1967–77), containing important hermeneutical studies of Plato, Hegel, and Paul Celan among others. His many books and essays are collected into ten volumes (Gesammelte Werke). Gadamer was widely known as a teacher who practised the dialogue which is at the core of his philosophical hermeneutics.

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.

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.

Textual Intercourse: Gadamer’s Penetration Into the Depths of Understanding

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexis Deodato S. Itao ◽  
Jiolito L. Benitez
Keyword(s):  
Martin Heidegger ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Human Understanding ◽  
Truth And Method ◽  
Dialogic Interaction ◽  
Text Language ◽  
Hans Georg Gadamer ◽  
Intimate Exchange ◽  
Human Rationality

As rational animals, human beings not only have the ability to think but also the capacity to understand. Human rationality is constituted by thinking and understanding. The immediate connotation of rationality, however, is almost always thinking. Hence, to speak of man as an animal rationale is to speak of man as a thinking being. But following his mentor Martin Heidegger, Hans-Georg Gadamer insists that man does not only think, but most importantly understands. To understand is an essential part of being human, of being rational. But what understands? What does it mean to understand? The issue of human understanding is not something simply epistemological; rather, it is something hermeneutical. That is to say, understanding always relates to the act of interpretation. In his monumental work Truth and Method, Gadamer diligently considers the matter of human understanding from a purely hermeneutical perspective. This paper, then, aims to synthesize Gadamer’s hermeneutical theory and argues that for Gadamer, human understanding is essentially characterized by a kind of textual intercourse, that is, a dialogic interaction or an intimate exchange of horizons between an interpreting subject and a text which, in very broad terms, can refer to any object of interpretation. Keywords – understanding, interpretation, hermeneutics, text, language, dialectic

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.

Gadamerian and Chinese Philosophical Reflections on the Developments of Chung-ying Cheng’s Post-Dialogue Onto-hermeneutic Philosophy

2021 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 341-356
Author(s):  
Lauren F. Pfister
Keyword(s):  
Gospel Of John ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Hermeneutic Philosophy ◽  
Human Understanding ◽  
Truth And Method ◽  
Contemporary Chinese ◽  
Hans Georg Gadamer ◽  
Philosophical Writings ◽  
Chinese Philosophers

Abstract In light of developments in Chung-ying Cheng’s (1935-) onto-hermeneutic philosophy during the years after his dialogue with Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900–2002) took place in Heidelberg in May 2000, I explore several new issues related to Cheng’s understanding of Gadamer’s hermeneutic philosophy. First of all, I argue that Cheng has not addressed the vital concept of the “inner word” in Gadamer’s Truth and Method, and point toward some of its fecund hermeneutic significance, especially with regard to its characterization of Sprache/Language and its dynamics within human understanding. Secondly, I underscore the fact that Cheng (and the majority of other contemporary Chinese philosophers) have not understood the profound impact of Christian philosophical writings in Gadamer’s work, particularly in his claim that Christian ontology offers an alternative to ancient Greek ontologies that are “categorically significant.” Finally, I describe and analyze the development of a new theistic understanding of reality within Cheng’s post-dialogue publications, suggesting ways of critically advancing his claims in the light of Gadamer’s account of the “inner word” and the Christian ontological claims grounded in the logos-theology as presented in the prologue to the Gospel of John.

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.

Reinterpretasi Ayat-ayat “Kekerasan”

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-103
Author(s):  
Lina Aniqoh
Keyword(s):  
Historical Context ◽  
Moral Values ◽  
Textual Interpretation ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The People ◽  
Double Movement ◽  
The Face

This paper seeks to elaborate on the textual interpretation of Q.S Muhammad verse 4 and Q.S at Taubah verse 5. These two verses are often employed by the extremist Muslim groups to legitimize their destructive acts carried out on groups considered as being infidels and as such lawfully killed. The interpretation was conducted using the double movement hermeneutics methodology offered by Fazlur Rahman. After reinterpretation, the two verses contain moral values, namely the war ordered by God must be reactive, fulfill the ethics of "violence" and be the last solution. Broadly speaking, the warfare commanded in the Qur'an aims to establish a benefit for humanity on the face of the earth by eliminating every crime that exists. These two verses in the contemporary socio-historical context in Indonesia can be implemented as a basis for combating the issue of hoaxes and destructive acts of extremist Muslim groups. Because both are crimes and have negative implications for the people good and even able to threaten the unity of mankind.

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