Hermeneutics and textuality

1. Hermeneutics and textuality Björn Þorsteinsson Lecture in Heimspekileg forspjallsvísindi,Humanities Dept., University of Iceland, 15 February 2006

2. On the programme • What is a text? • A few remarks on semiology • Interpretation and hermeneutics: definitions • The hermeneutic circle • The hermeneutic circle and the formation of beliefs

3. Text: a few remarks • An ‘international’ term (even found in Icelandic!) • Latin: • noun textus, ‘a texture, sth. interrelated’ • verb texere, ‘to weave, to intertwine’ • Text is texture, a web • To read: to follow threads, disentangle, tie together, bring together ...

4. Text, sign, context • A text is composed of (written) signs • The signs come together to form words, and words form sentences • The very order of the signs – their place in the context – is significant • orð≠ roð, kirkja ≠ kyrkja • Segir hver? / Strokkur er hver • Aujourd’hui, j’ai mangé un avocat • Today I ate an avocado • Today I ate an attorney

5. Language as a system of meaning • Within each language, the words relate to each other and form a certain context • This context differs from one language to the other • The ‘same’ word can hava a wholly different meaning between languages • A silly example: fart. • Danish: velocity, motion. • English: (you already know what I’m getting at)

6. The importance of the context • Language use in general presupposes a contextual sense • This applies equally to writing and speech • To speak a language entails • expression: writing and speaking • interpretation: read texts, understand speech • And this implies at least two factors: • knowledge of grammar and of vocabulary • a ‘sense of situation’, i.e. a contextual sense

7. Context and text in a wide sense • Reading, in a broad sense, entails following threads and analysing relations • Thus, reading is investigating the context of things • The world has meaning because things relate to each other, i.e. form a context • To know what something is is to be able to describe its relations to other things • The world is (like) a text...

8. What is a text? A simple depiction

9. The simple idea of a text • A text is like a container: it contains meaning • When you read a text, you open the container and absorb the meaning • The purpose of texts is to convey meaning between persons • In normal circumstances, this conveying is non-problematic

10. Simple examples of texts • Messages: conveying simple facts • “Went to the café. Be back at seven.” • Memos: conveying information to oneself at a later date • shopping lists, task lists • Other types of examples: diaries, calendars

11. More complex examples • Letters: conveying many different types of information • weather, emotions, gossip, big news, small news... • Newspaper stories • Legal texts • „Með lögum skal land byggja“: society is based on texts!

12. The truth of the text • The objective of the text: to prevent misunderstanding • Exception: fiction (?) • But is this objective ‘realistic’? • What texts are beyond misunderstanding? • The text seems to have a life of its own, haunted by the spectre of misunderstanding...

13. A good text: opposite poles • A scientific or academic text is good if it is clear and precise... • it does not invite misunderstanding, conveys a particular clear, determinable meaning • it “effaces itself” as soon as its mission is completed • it does not hide its meaning, rather it lays it bare

14. A good text: opposite poles (ctd.) • A text of fiction is good if it is ambiguous, many-layered, multiple... • it does not lend itself to a single, ‘literal’ meaning • it ‘lives its own life’ and invites creative reading: different interpretations • sometimes, it lets its meaning ‘shine through’ but never displays it in its entirety, all at once • ... but this does not mean that all interpretations are equally justified

15. What is a sign? • A sign has two aspects: • signifier: what does the signifying, what is being used to represent the thing • Example: the word “table” • signified: what is being signified, the thing itself • Example: the table as this material object

16. signifier sign “table” signified What is a sign?

17. hearing speech c: concept i: the ‘acoustic image’ of the word ci ci speech hearing The circuit of speech

18. Expression and interpretation • As soon as we express ourselves, the need for interpretation arises • The signs we use are never completely transparent • The signs “are something else than ‘pure meaning’, yet without them it would be impossible for any meaning to appear; in the absence of signs, meaning would only be thought, not made present.” (Páll Skúlason in Mál og túlkun, p. 179)

19. Interpretation: reading into... • Interpretation is the search for the ‘core’ of what is being said or written: the meaning, the truth being conveyed • Interpretation is called for when the meaning is not perfectly clear • The role of interpretation is to ‘remove’ the signs, thereby ‘reinvigorating’ the ‘pure meaning’

20. What is hermeneutics? • The word is derived from the Greek god Hermes • Hermes was the messenger of the gods, the one that brought their messages to humans • Theological hermenutics: the art of elucidating the Scripture • Secular hermeneutics: the art of elucidating texts in general

21. Origins of modern hermeneutics • Schleiermacher (1768-1834): • No real difference between interpreting the Bible and other texts • No difference between spoken and written language • Interpretation bridges the gap between meaning and its expression • Interpretation is the art of avoiding misunderstanding

22. Dilthey: explaining, understanding • Wilhelm Dilthey (1833-1911): distinguished between natural sciences and humanistic sciences: • The natural sciences seek to explain natural phenomena: place them in a context of cause and effect • The humanistic sciences seek to understand human phenomena: place them in a meaningful context

23. Interpretation and presuppositions • Each act of interpretation must in some way reflect the preconceptions of whoever is doing the interpreting • What do I know about this object? • What are my expectations? • Is it likely that the object will be of interest, will it teach me something new?

24. The hermeneutic circle – 1 • The word of God is revealed in the Bible • The belief in the word of God presupposes an understanding of what the Bible says • But one cannot understand what the Bible says unless one believes • Hence: “in order to believe, you have to understand – and in order to understand, you have to believe“ understanding  belief

25. The hermeneutic circle – 2 • In order to understand a text in its entirety, I have to understand each part of it • In order to understand each part of the text, I have to understand the whole part  whole

26. The hermeneutic circle – 3 • The interpretation of the object is determined by the interpreter’s preconceptions • The interpreter’s preconceptions are affected by the interpretation of the object

27. The circle – key points • We are in the world, and the world is full of meaning • Our view of the world, our receptibility towards the meaning that it harbours, is determined by the experience that we have gathered • Each time we ‘learn something new’, our view of the world and of particular phenomena is changed

28. Interpretation and beliefs • Critical thinking and the hermeneutic circle: • admitting that we are always partly influenced by preconceptions and prejudices • demanding that we strive to constantly reconsider our preconceptions, allowing the object to appear as fully and purely as possible

29. Interpretation and beliefs • If we succeed to meet this double challenge, the hermeneutic circle will not hamper us... • rather, it will become a valuable instrument in our search for a new and better world-view...!

30. The circle, final version preconceptions object