Hermeneutics and the ‘classic’ problem in the human sciences

Abstract

There has been a longstanding and acrimonious debate in the human sciences over the role played by classic texts. Advocates of the classic insist its value is timeless and rests on the intrinsic superiority of its cognitive insights and aesthetic virtues. Critics, by contrast, argue that the respect accorded the classic is spurious because it conceals the ideological assumptions, tensions and discontinuities of tradition. This paper seeks a solution through the account of "the classical" brought by Hans-Georg Gadamer in Truth and Method, which acknowledges a text"s "eminence" as well as its "historicity". Following the introduction, the paper divides into four sections. Section one, notes that the hermeneutic account of tradition describes it as being open to challenge rather than closed and unchangeable, and that the classic, as grounded in tradition, will conserve difficulty as readily as comfortable certainty.Section two focuses on the idea that in the classic we find matter "properly portrayed", while section three notes the importance of "application" for an understanding of classic texts. It is noted that both "proper portrayal" and "application" depend on recognising the role of the fusion of historical horizons in generating classic texts. The final section challenges the criticism that the classic is no more than a reflection of the institutional power wielded by the canon, arguing instead that the classic and the canon are different entities, and conflating them in favour of the latter, misleadingly reduces classic-ness to being no more than an effect of canonicity. 2Hermeneutics and the "Classic" Problem in the Human SciencesInfluential as they are, deconstruction and postmodernism are only symptoms, bright bubbles at the surface of a mutation. It is, as I have suggested, our elemental perceptions of death, our time-sense, of the related classical impulse in art and poetry to endure, to achieve timelessness, which are today in radical question. (Steiner, G. 1997: 156)

Listening to the Otherness of the Other: Envisioning Listening Based on a Hermeneutical Reading of Lévinas

“…A characteristic feature of the methodology of hermeneutical reading and method Downloaded by [University of Colorado at Boulder Libraries] at 12:56 03 January 2015 of working is that it is the point of departure in one's own tradition that guides the uncovering, which precedes the interpretation toward a new envisioning (Koskinen & Lindström, 2013). According to How (2011), it is through the researcher's prejudices or tradition that reflection is given its movement and interpretive frame, the tradition provides the light that makes vision possible. Edwards (2008) refers to Lévinas's description of hermeneutic reading where the essential is to identify deep structures and uncover the original meaning of the text, since the text bears traces of original voices that transmit to the present what has been said in the past.…”

The Monstrous ‘White Theory Boy’: Symbolic Capital, Pedagogy and the Politics of Knowledge

“…Discussions of canonicity provide ample evidence for this assertion. Not only is there clear evidence that the canon – supposedly the paragon of the best, most useful, and most widely applicable social thought – is comprised mainly of white, European men, but further to this the very qualities a piece of work must possess to enter the canon – that of making generalizable and universal grand theory (Outhwaite 2009; Connell 2007; How 2011) – works in itself to exclude people from non-hegemonic identity groups. It is possible, then, to make capital from performing as a ‘white theory boy’: you fit into the category most likely to deem a person canonical, valid, legitimated.…”

Hermeneutic reading of classic texts

“…Prejudices give us an openness to meet the world and help us understand. According to How , classic texts of timeless value and aesthetic virtues can give us new insights about the truth. Tradition is always with us and within us, but it is continuously something new when it is being questioned and something happens with the researcher.…”

“…Hermeneutic reading has primarily been used for the purpose of understanding difficult passages or parts of the written text that otherwise would be hard to grasp. Also, How believes that it is possible to immediately understand a text while interpretation is necessary only when one's own understanding is insufficient. Also within the Romantic hermeneutic tradition, the aim has been to reveal the true meaning of a text by setting up rules for interpretation for the purpose of trying to avoid misunderstandings.…”