Scientific Method and Research Ethics. Interpretation. Anna Petronella Foultier

Transcription

1 Scientific Method and Research Ethics Interpretation Anna Petronella Foultier

2 Meaning and interpretation: Is there a form of interpretation that corresponds to every form of meaning? Natural meaning Perceptual meaning Linguistic meaning, etc. The movie starts at 8 pm. I m Nobody! Who are you? Are you Nobody too? Then there s a pair of us! Don t tell! they d advertise you know! How dreary to be Somebody! How public like a Frog To tell one s name the livelong June To an admiring Bog! (Emily Dickinson )

3 I m Nobody! Who are you? Are you Nobody too? Then there s a pair of us! Don t tell! they d advertise you know! How dreary to be Somebody! How public like a Frog To tell one s name the livelong June To an admiring Bog! Interpretation of a poem Who is speaking? What is the subject manner? What metre does the author use? Etc. etc. etc. Interpretation of a poem (part etc.) In recitation, theatre or dance performance, etc. Interpretation in translating

4 Interpretation of people What are they feeling?

5 Why are they feeling/saying etc. what they do? Why are they behaving that way?

6 Hermeneutics ἑρμηνεία (herméneia) τέχνη (techne) Hermes

7 In Greek antiquity: Interpretation of myths, oracles, dreams, poetry, laws, etc. Search for something hidden (allegoría).

8 Hermeneia: Interpretation of the spoken word (Aristotle, Peri hermeneias).

9 Interpretatio: interpretation of the written word

10 Distance in time that must be bridged now of fundamental importance

11 Hermeneutics: Interpretation of the Bible (Old Testament). The goal is to obtain an agreement with the Christian tradition.

12 Exegesis of the text itself: bring different parts in accordance with one another Bring text in accordance with extra-textual factors.

13 17th century Hermeneutics as a general theory of interpretation Scientific method (Dannhauer)

14 Baruch Spinoza ( ) Philosophical hermeneutics, independent of theology.

15 Spinoza s principles of interpretation: familiarity with the language knowledge of the the historical context attention to the inner structure of the text

16 Romanticism Romantiken Hermeneutics becomes a general doctrine of interpretation. The author s personality comes to the fore.

17 Friedrich Schleiermacher ( ) Grammatical interpretation: pure interpretation of texts Psychological interpretation: understanding of the author s individuality, both in order to interpret the text and to understand the person behind it

18 The hermeuneutic circle

19 Schleiermacher: going back and forth between whole and parts within the particular work within the whole body of writings between work and author between the mind of the interpreter and that of the author interpretation unfinished

20 Hermeneutic spiral: Dialectical movement within the work and between the work and its environment The interpretation is in principle unfinished

21 Classical hermeneutics: interpretation of biblical, religious and legal texts final interpretation possible the work immutable Romantic hermeneutics: concerns interpretation and understanding in general interpretation in principle unfinished the truth of the work changes through history interpreting reason also historical

22 Wilhelm Dilthey ( ) Explanation The natural world is given in fragments, though external experience Understanding Inner experience, given as a continuous whole The inner world of the other, through analogy. Products (gestures, speech, cultural objects) starting points. Researcher implied in the interpretative process.

23 Hans-Georg Gadamer ( )

24 Criticism of romanticist conception: It is the meaning, die Sache the subject matter, what is at stake that concerns us, and what the text has to tell us, not the author s inner life. Die Sache: 1. The text itself 2. The world that appears in and through the text. The goal of interpretation: agreement about die Sache.

25 Traditional hermeneutics we should free our selves of our preconceptions method of interpretation (normative) Philosophical hermeneutics our conceptions, our prejudices (Vor-urteile) a condition of understanding human being is an interpretive being (ontological) we are part of our interpretation distance (time, space) precondition for understanding

26 Fusion of horizons: Encounter between the horizons of the interpreter and of the work

27 Anticipation of perfection discloses our own prejudices Only through distance in time (or space) can our own horizon of understanding be put at stake