Hermeneutics as Embodied Existence

Abstract

This article explores the possibilities and limits of a hermeneutic way of being in the world, more specifically being a researcher as a part of human, embodied existence. Understanding existence as embodied highlights the subjectivity of a researcher. For a hermeneutic researcher this subjectivity is both a precondition for interpretation and something that might endanger the scientific endeavour. In this article, I examine the possibilities of combining Hans-Georg Gadamer's empathetic hermeneutics with Paul Ricoeur's critical hermeneutics as a means of both recognizing and, to some extent, controlling my subjectivity in the research process. With Gabriel Marcel I also argue for hermeneutics as an embodied experience. This is exemplified by my study with a focus on the existential dimensions of the nursing profession. The first part of the article introduces Marcel and his philosophical anthropology concerning our bodily existence as essential for shared lives with others. In the second part, this understanding of self and others is further developed by means of the hermeneutics of Gadamer and Ricoeur. In the third part, I present a way of applying hermeneutics in procedures for interviews, transcription, and analysis of data.

The meaning of living close to a person with Alzheimer disease

“…From a lifeworld perspective, the professional experience is also a personal experience because it involves sharing our common existential conditions of life (Schuster 2013 ). Encountering the existential vulnerability of spouses implies the courage to see beyond the image of a caregiver, leaving the security of good, practical advice.…”

“…The authors considered different aspects of validity throughout the entire research process: a communicative validity that imposes a dialogue about the interpretations among other researchers and a pragmatic validation regarding the effect of the findings on practice (Kvale 1989 ). To further validate the findings, quotations were used to illustrate and provide concrete examples of the thoughts, feelings, or moods of the persons interviewed (Schuster 2013 ).…”

Relationships between healthcare employees and managers as a resource for well-being at work

“…Methodological considerations have been made on the basis of the criteria of credibility, confirmability and transferability, in order to establish credible and trustworthy qualitative research (Schuster, 2013). The credibility of the present study refers to striving to establish logical categories and show the depth of the interviews by presenting quotes from the interview transcripts (Guba, 1981).…”

Hermeneutic photography. An innovative intervention in psychiatric rehabilitation founded on concepts from Ricoeur.

“…We will describe how concepts from the hermeneutic philosophy of Ricoeur give the photoinstrument a strong theoretical underpinning. Hermeneutics in nursing has until now often been a theory of interpretation and a method of analyzing research texts, [7][8][9][10] but we focus on the process of meaning making by the participants of our study themselves and how this can be facilitated by nurses. In nursing the hermeneutic dimension has been given little attention in relation to clinical interventions, but in the Nordic school of nursing that puts caring in the center there are renowned examples of authors who set value by processes of meaning giving: Katie Eriksson's reflections on understanding suffering [11] and Lennart Fredriksson's 'caring conversation' [12] for instance have deeply influenced our own thinking.…”