“The Sympathy of Experience With Life!” – Understanding Practical Knowledge From Heidegger to Gadamer and Back

"For both Gadamer’s project of a philosophical hermeneutics as for Heidegger’s early understanding of facticity (Faktizität) as practical knowledge, the problem of application is central and is always linked to the specific conditions under which an individual decides to act within a community. Both also agree on the fact that the sciences of man do involve more than the epistemic subject, this is why the context i.e. the phenomenological concept of ‘world’ becomes part of the understanding process, one that cannot be ignored or transformed into an abstract matter. Understanding is therefore also in a specific way ‘historical’, as the application is dictated by momentary circumstances in life situations, which come before any use of theoretical knowledge and thus do not represent an appendix to theory. While Gadamer continuously insisted on the idea of a practical knowledge (Wissen) that surpasses the separations between theory and praxis, sophia and phronesis, Heidegger radicalized the idea of active thinking as an experience of language in connection to an essential ‘perception’ of Being itself, that goes beyond any subjectivity. The term by which he often characterizes this essential thinking (wesentliches Denken) is Vernehmen: a kind of receptive thinking. This conception of receptive thinking, as some conversations around the Zollikon Seminars and Le Thor/Zähringen will briefly show, lead Heidegger also to some interesting considerations on the human body. Keywords: practical knowledge, historicity, life, body, Vernehmen, phenomenological hermeneutics, world. "

Paul Ricoeur on the Recognition of Anxiety: Phenomenological Hermeneutics in Action

The philosophical concept of anxiety, which is usually associated with Kierkegaard and Heidegger's existential philosophy, seems to be an underestimated notion in Paul Ricoeur's phenomenological hermeneutics, while its role is important - anxiety appears to serve as the grounding for hope in his hermeneutics of self. The article aims to show how the anxiety is explained in Ricoeur's philosophy through attention and recognition, and how the anxiety is reflected in the narrative forms, or descriptions of vivencia . These descriptions may be seen as the verbal explanation of the so-called affective niche or affective scaffolding , which is a form of cultural adaptation, attempting to interpret and comprehend one's state of mind and way of the perception of the world as such in the given moment. The research and further dialogue based on these narrations may become an important source to recover from anxiety disorder, by discovering its existential meaning and, at the same time, accepting personal responsibility for it. Ricoeur's phenomenological hermeneutics made an important theoretical contribution in understanding the essential aspects of anxiety and hope; but it also developed prolific methods of interpretation, that could be practically applied in health care and psychotherapy; these can be shown on the example of the psychotherapeutic method of the usage of so-called 'anxiety protocols', which aim to arrange the hermeneutical co-research to help patient/client to recognize and overcome its anxiety disorders.

The creative personality as a subject of culture in the paradigm dimensions of understanding

The purpose of the article is to substantiate the essence of paradigmaticity, to determine the basic paradigm dimensions of cultural comprehension of the phenomenon of personality. The methodology of research consists in the application of synergetic, axiological, cultural-hermeneutic approaches and analytical, semiotic, phenomenological methods to comprehend the personality as a subject of culture, capable of representing universal cultural meanings, values and ideals through various forms of creative practices, choosing a personal vector of creative self-realization. Scientific novelty of the work lies in the fact that for the first time in the problem field of cultural studies on the basis of paradigmatic as a sign of modern postnonclassical humanitarianism is justified paradigm dimensions of comprehension of personality, based on discursiveness, multiple intellectual forms of scientific knowledge, as well as interpretive variability of artistic thinking. In the context of culturological comprehension of personality as a cultural subject universal paradigm dimensions are defined: interscientific, humanitarian, subject-value, activity-creative. Conclusions. Interscientific paradigmal dimension allows to systematize the directions of evolution of scientific views on the phenomenon of personality from the position of different spheres of scientific knowledge. Through humanitarian paradigmatic dimension the person is presented as a creative personality within phenomenological hermeneutics; in the context of discursive technologies of personality self-projection, the possession of which becomes an important condition of its successful creative self-realization. The creative personality in the context of the subject-value dimension acts as a bearer of cultural values as the works of spiritual culture. Culturological research of personality in its basic - activity-creative paradigmatic dimension allows to consider the creative personality through creative activity, on the basis of which reincarnation of the personality himself into the subject of culturecreativity takes place.

Pesquisa qualitativa de natureza fenomenológica e hermenêutica em educação: trajetórias

ResumoEste trabalho objetiva revisitar conceitos que trazem à luz os sentidos dos termos empregados numa pesquisa qualitativa de natureza fenomenológica e hermenêutica. Apresenta três momentos da trajetória fenomenológica: descrição, redução e compreensão, explicitando visualmente essas fases. Aborda o termo hermenêutica a partir de Ser e Tempo de Heidegger, observando a inserção da fenomenologia de Husserl à hermenêutica, e apresenta duas possibilidades de investigação nas ciências do espírito ou humanidades: a via curta e a via longa, utilizando a metáfora das grandes avenidas do pensamento hermenêutico: a via alemã e a via franco-suíça. Ao finalizar, interroga sobre as contribuições deste enfoque à Educação, concluindo que educar será, nesta perspectiva, a trajetória a ser percorrida para que sejamos nós mesmos ou para que possamos cuidar (zelar) do outro para que seja ele próprio, não aceitando que as coisas se nos apresentem de forma opacizada ou apenas como hipóteses e suposições.Palavras-chave: Pesquisa Qualitativa. Hermenêutica Fenomenológica. Educação. Qualitative research of phenomenological and hermeneutic nature in education: trajectoriesAbstractThis paper aims to revisit concepts that bring to light the meanings of terms used in qualitative research of a phenomenological and hermeneutic nature. It presents three moments of the phenomenological trajectory: description, reduction and comprehension, visually explaining these phases. It approaches the term hermeneutics from Heidegger's Being and Time, observing the insertion of Husserl's phenomenology into hermeneutics, and presents two possibilities of investigation in the sciences of the spirit or humanities: the short and the long way, using the metaphor of the great avenues of hermeneutic thought: the German way and the French-Swiss way. Finally, it inquires about the contributions of this approach to Education, concluding that educating will be, in this perspective, the path to be followed so that we can be ourselves, or we can care for the other so that he can be himself, not accepting that things are presented to us in an opaque way or just as hypotheses and assumptions.Keywords: Qualitative Research; Phenomenological Hermeneutics. Education. Investigación cualitativa de naturaleza fenomenológica y hermenéutica en educación: trayectoriasResumenEste trabajo tiene como objetivo revisar conceptos que den a conocer los significados de los términos utilizados en la investigación cualitativa de carácter fenomenológico y hermenéutico. Presenta tres momentos de la trayectoria fenomenológica: descripción, reducción y comprensión, explicando visualmente estas fases. Aborda el término hermenéutica desde el Ser y Tiempo de Heidegger, observando la inserción de la fenomenología de Husserl en la hermenéutica, y presenta dos posibilidades de investigación en las ciencias del espíritu o las humanidades: el camino corto y el camino largo, utilizando la metáfora de las grandes avenidas del pensamiento hermenéutico: el estilo alemán y el estilo franco-suizo. Finalmente, pregunta por los aportes de este enfoque a la Educación, concluyendo que educar será, en esta perspectiva, el camino a seguir para que podamos ser nosotros mismos o para que podamos cuidar al otro para que es él mismo, sin aceptar que las cosas se nos presenten de forma opaca o simplemente como hipótesis y supuestos.Palabras clave: Investigación Cualitativa. Hermenéutica Fenomenológica. Educación.

Time

Orlando and other texts express Woolf’s interest in subjective ‘time in the mind’, an interest she shared with other modernists who challenged chronological norms, but Woolf explored other forms of time as well. Some align her work with the theories of Henri Bergson, Mikhail Bakhtin, and Mary Sturt, and this variety—the way Woolf developed forms of time across her career as a writer—tracks with the phenomenological hermeneutics of Paul Ricoeur. His Time and Narrative explains the dialectical pattern according to which Woolf perpetually found new ways for time and narrative to shape each other, culminating in novels that thematize this reciprocal relationship between the art of narrative and possibilities for temporal engagement. Woolf’s early fiction breaks with linear chronology, starting a series of virtuoso performances of temporal poiesis.

EXPRESSION OF THE NEEDS OF THE CHARACTERS OF FAIRY TALES CREATED BY CHILDREN GROWING UP IN FAMILIES AT SOCIAL RISK AND THEIR SATISFACTION

The scientific literature analyses in detail the problems of a family at social risk, threats to the child’s social and personality development, etc., however, all insights are provided from an adult perspective – research that would allow the voice of a child growing up in a family at social risk to be heard has not been detected. Children have a limited ability to talk about their experiences. This is facilitated by the creation of a fairy tale, where the child, through the images of the characters created, can safely convey his/her individual life experiences. The aim of the article is to identify the expression of the needs of the characters of fairy tales created by children growing up in families at social risk and their satisfaction. Fairy tales created by 9‒12 year old children were selected as the object of analysis. Of the 69 texts written by children, 47 were selected for analysis. The content analysis of fairy tales was based on the principles of phenomenological hermeneutics. The analysis of fairy tales created by children growing up in families at social risk shows that the characters of the fairy tales they create experience the following unmet needs: physiological, security and social. Heroes of the fairy tales of children growing up in families at social risk are not prone to solving problems, it is more comfortable for them to live as usual, although not always they feel good because of that.

Aesthetic Experience, Social Interfaces, and the Phenomenology of Music

The distinction that John Blacking draws between music that serves a social purpose and music that he regards as enhancing human consciousness calls for a further consideration of how the experiences that music affords are the source of its meaning and significance. Drawing on Hans-Georg Gadamer’s phenomenological analysis of play, the author sets out a hermeneutical approach that accounts for music’s expressive vehemence. Paul Ricoeur’s theory of mimesis provides a hermeneutical foundation for understanding how music’s expression of moods and feelings gives rise to different ways of inhering in the world. Music’s exemplification of the moods and feelings to which it gives voice, the author accordingly argues, is the spring of its worlding power. Conversely, Thomas Turino’s adaptation of Peirce’s semiology both draws on and supports ethnographic descriptions of emotive, musical behaviors. In turn, these descriptions presuppose the meaningfulness of the experiences that music occasions. Blacking’s insight into the primary significance of what he identifies as “music for being” thus reserves a place within ethnomusicological discourse for a phenomenological hermeneutics for which music’s worlding power is the ground of the interfaces between music’s expressive force and its place in social life.

POVERTY ALLEVIATION THROUGH ETHICAL PHILANTHROPY IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA (MENA) REGION

Poverty using the United Nations’ criteria refers to denial of choices, opportunities, and the lack of capacity as a result of low income for a person to effectively participate in society. Poverty creates problems such as ill-health, inability to acquire the basic necessities of life, deprivation of full exercise of civic and political rights, and so forth. In spite of the enormous wealth in both human and natural resources in MENA, many people in the region are living in abject poverty. Using phenomenological hermeneutics and existential critical analysis, the paper argues for ethical philanthropy to be used to alleviate the poverty in the region. Poverty is an ethical issue for it affects the quality of lives that humans can live as moral beings and impacts human behaviour. It is unacceptable that the enormous wealth of the region is not used for the benefit of all. Outside government efforts and the imperative of efficient political leadership, wealthy individuals and non-governmental groups have a moral responsibility to help to alleviate poverty in the region. It is this ethical role of individuals and groups in rendering philanthropic help to alleviate and if possible end poverty in the region that is the thrust of this paper. The paper affirms that abject and other forms of poverty are present in the region. The paper concludes that individuals and groups have an ethical duty in philanthropy to alleviate poverty in the region. The people of the region will become better and achieve a higher level of happiness and peace through the practice of ethical philanthropy.

Objectivity and Subjectivity in the Phenomenological Hermeneutics of Paul Ricœur: the Question of the Methodology of Interdisciplinary Theological Research

"L’objectivité et la subjectivité dans l’herméneutique phénoménolo¬gique de Paul Ricœur : la question de la méthodologie de la recherche théolo¬gique interdisciplinaire. L’article propose un bref aperçu de la méthodologie du philosophe français Paul Ricœur dans le contexte de la recherche théologique. Cette méthodologie donne l’occasion d’explorer l’expérience humaine dans le discours scientifique. L’herméneutique phénoménologique élargit les horizons de la méthodologie habituelle et montre la relation entre subjectif et objectif, immanent et transcendantal dans l’expérience humaine. L’article souligne l’importance de catégories clés telles que l’Autre, la confiance, l’humilité d’un chercheur, etc., qui constituent un outil indispensable pour étudier des textes sur l’expérience existentielle, religieuse et critique de l’homme dans le discours scientifique des études humanitaires. La relation de confiance avec l’Autre devient la clé de la recherche théologique, puisque Dieu en tant qu’Autre, selon le message de l’apôtre Jean, est reconnu par l’amour pour le prochain (1 John 4: 20-21). Aimer Dieu est la première tâche d’un théologien, l’Autre est le chemin de cet amour. Les exemples tirés de l’herméneutique phénoménologique de Paul Ricœur révèlent un lien logique entre la compréhension de l’autre et la compréhension de soi. Il est enfin souligné que l’expérience de chaque personne est une expérience mystérieuse consistant à se transcender au-delà de soi-même. Il s’agit d’une tentative sans fin pour se rapprocher de la véritable image de Dieu. Mot-clés : herméneutique, phénoménologie, phénoménologie herméneutique, objectivité, subjectivité, la confiance, recherche théologique. "

Historicity and Religiosity in Heidegger’s Interpretation of the Reality: With an Outlook to Adolf Reinach’s Contribution to Heidegger’s Phenomenological Conception

The question of whether Heidegger’s phenomenological contribution to the philosophy of being originates from his pre-philosophical attitude to theology or rather, it is the methodological question of phenomenology which influenced his thinking, is one of the most essential questions in Heidegger-research. Though, this has already been elaborated on in a broader sense, the publication of the Black Notes has opened new dimensions for discussion. It is not the aim of this paper to represent Heidegger’s concept of the history of being in the light of the new debates, but rather to confirm the thesis, that, in spite of the ‘turn’; in Heidegger’s thinking, his phenomenological hermeneutics was inspired, above all, by his reflection on Christianity. Moreover, the paper will question whether the linearity of Heidegger’s thinking about the historical being remains on the horizon of the religious phenomenon, as it is thematized in his early papers and lectures. While Heidegger’s early phenomenological approaches to religion and theology have been sufficiently elaborated on by several authors, and the phenomenological–hermeneutical relevance has been proven in his thinking, the linkage between the early philosophical approaches to the problem of religiosity and of historical being arising newly in Heidegger’s thinking from the 1930s is missing. The present paper will not just refer to the thesis that Heidegger’s theological background contributed to his questioning of being, and that it was influenced in different ways, but makes an attempt to reveal the internal dynamics of Heidegger’s early thinking prior to the publication of Being and Time and the time of composing the Contributions to Philosophy of those of Heidegger’s lectures which remain in the parallel analysis of religiosity and historicity.