A History of Philosophy | 72 Other Phenomenologists
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A History of Philosophy | 72 Other Phenomenologists
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Hermeneutical theory has evolved from Enlightenment objectivity through Kantian subjectivity to contemporary deconstruction, with the fundamental tension being whether interpretation can arrive at stable meaning through dialogue between reader and text, or whether linguistic structures make fixed meaning impossible.
- Hermeneutics moved from objective fact-gathering (Enlightenment) to subjective grid-imposition (Kant through Heidegger)
- Gadamer's fusion of horizons through dialogue offers a middle path between naive objectivity and radical relativism
- Derrida's deconstruction challenges the viability of stable reference, suggesting all interpretation is artificial superimposition
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Gadamer explicitly rejects any dichotomy between interpretation and application, arguing that if interpretation makes the text meaningful for the reader, it is already applied in the act of interpretation itself.
“gadamer explicitly rejects any dichotomy any complete disjunction between interpretation and application because if what interpretation does is to make the text the text for me it's already applied in the act of interpretation yes”
Gabriel Marcel, a French Catholic philosopher and religious existentialist, critiques Sartre's dialectic between the for-itself and the in-itself as overdrawn because it fails to distinguish between negation (turning against the other) and disengagement (drifting apart), and Marcel argues that relationships exist between two poles of alienation and love rather than being wholly alienated.
“in any kind of relationship there are two poles that are possible alienation and love and in between those two poles the relationship may move to and fro but it's not all alienation”
Paul Tillich, a Protestant theologian, applies a phenomenological method to theology by treating faith as an ultimate concern—a centered act in which the whole being comes into unity through intentionality toward the object of faith—rather than as doctrinal assent.
“Paul Tillich Protestant theologian whose approach to theology has really involved a phenomenological method he has a book for instance a little book called the dynamics of faith the dynamics of faith which is a phenomenology of faith which he calls an ultimate concern so the act of faith is a centered act in which the whole being comes into unity in in intentionality towards the object of faith”
Gadamer recognizes that both author and interpreter bring subjective intentionality, transforming interpretation into an interpersonal dynamic analogous to an I-Thou relationship where each party attempts to understand the other, though historical gap makes mutual understanding harder than contemporary interpersonal dialogue.
“what you get then rising out of this quite cleanly is the recognition that there is subjective intentionality of on the part of both writer and reader both the author and the interpreter and so you have to subjectivities an interpretation then becomes very much like an interpersonal dynamic and I thou relationship in which each is trying to understand the other the thing is however that in in interpreting historical materials there is a great big gap there's a time gap so that the mutual understanding is significantly harder to to achieve”
Gorgias the sophist argued 'nothing exists, if anything exists I couldn't know it, if I knew it I couldn't talk about it,' representing linguistic skepticism extending not only to existence and knowledge but to the viability of language itself to convey any meaning.
“do you remember the pre-socratic gorg yes the Sophists anybody remember go guess who said I a he said nothing exists if anything exists I couldn't know it if I knew it I couldn't talk about it you you find scepticism extended not only to whether something exists not only to knowing about something but also scepticism to the viability of any language linguistic skepticism”
Ferdinand de Saussure's structural linguistics proposes that language has two ingredients: factual references and formal structures, with meaning carried essentially by formal structures rather than factual reference.
“taking a position something like what we'll be finding in 19th and 20th century positivism 20th century particularly where in their analysis of language they speak of two ingredients in language a one being factual references and the other being the formal structures of language okay so that formal structures of things like the subject predicate structure okay formal structures the rules by which language functions they separate these two insisting that it's the meaning that is carried by the formal structure that's essential”
Medieval biblical interpretation used four levels of meaning: narrative level (what happened), allegorical level (what it symbolizes), anagogical level (what it anticipates), and historical level, allowing the same text to convey multiple meanings.
“a given passage has several levels of meaning so that if you are taking for instance the The Book of Jonah this is a hypothetical example if you take the Book of Jonah you could read it as a narrative of something which actually happened... you can also read it as an analogy to what happened when the Pete the people of Israel ran away from God and got swallowed up by the Assyrians... if you are reading it from the standpoint of firm the New Testament some people have tried to you could read it as anticipating the resurrection of Christ coming out from the jaws of death you think three levels of meaning”
Maurice Merleau-Ponty rejects Sartre's claim that consciousness contains only intentionality and no transcendental ego, arguing instead that this elimination of a subject pole makes relationship impossible because there cannot be an object without a subject, and therefore some personal identity must persist as more than just repeated acts of intentionality.
“Sartre... denies any transcendental ego and reduces the self to simply that which I create by the act of intentionality again and again in the game that's what Meryl Ponte repudiates because it eliminates the subject eliminates the subject of the subject object relationship so that if there is no subject pole there can be no relationship”
James Collins criticizes Sartre for postulating only two antithetical modes of being (being-for-itself and being-in-itself), arguing that phenomenological description reveals many more modes of being than this binary framework allows.
“his work seems to be followed by an American historian of the movement James Collins who taught at University of Washington now Washington University in st. Louis I beg your pardon Washington University in st. Louis James Collins who criticizes Sartre for assuming that there are just two modes of being poor a swamp and a swamp and that these are antithetical says James Collins this postulate is just unjustified descriptively there is so much more than that so many more modes of being”
Jacques Derrida's deconstruction represents anti-realism about interpretation because language has a structure imposed by authors but unconsciously given and never fully uncovered, and when one attempts to deconstruct this structure, interpretations fail to refer consistently, making all interpretation artificial superimposition without rational access to meaning.
“Jacques Derrida let's see it's get his name down on the list people are jacked Derrida the deconstructionist the deconstructionist seems to be an anti realist so that the the text becomes inscrutable in the sense that you cannot get at any fixed meaning why is this well thought for Derrida the language that is used and see the language is used has a structure that is given to it by the author but a structure that is if you like unconsciously given and which simply never gets completely uncovered”
Gadamer's phenomenology is critical realism rather than naive realism: while we can know that objects exist, what they are remains subject to correction, and there is no infallible interpreter, avoiding both representational theory and pure idealism.
“this phenomenology is more of a kind of critical realism not a naive realism but not an entire realism critical realism that it's claimed though do we know that an object exists but what it is we have to be subject to correction there is no infallible interpreter if you mark so the representational thing is not really correct”
Richard Rorty's Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature synthesizes phenomenological tradition (Heidegger), pragmatic tradition (Dewey), and Wittgensteinian tradition to argue that we are unable to get at the truth about anything by abandoning the representational theory of knowledge.
“the work of richard rorty in his book the entitled philosophy and the mirror of nature... appeals as much to this phenomenological tradition of Heidegger as it does to the pragmatic tradition of Dewey as it does to the Vidkun Stein tradition... bringing these together common themes in these together comes up essentially with the claim advert we simply are unable to get at the truth about anything”
Husserl's doctrine of intentionality treats consciousness as meaning-constitutive: in the act of reading or attending, the subject brings meaning to the object, making the object present through intentional acts.
“the further thing which comes into play in this development is of course her Cyril with his doctrine of intentionality so that what reading or giving attention to anything is is a meaning constituting act a meaning constitutive Act so in the act of reading trying to interpret something what I'm doing is bringing my meaning to that and making it for me you say the meaning constitutive act”
Thomas Reid's Scottish realism maintains that we have immediate awareness of the existence of objects as self-evident, given along with sensory qualities that function as signs of existence, so existence is known directly while nature is gained through reflection on sensory signs.
“Reid is a realist about the existence of things it maintains that we have an immediate awareness of somethings existence that is given to the that becomes self-evident is given along with certain sensory qualities which are signs that something is there so you don't have to infer the existence of something in other words in the relationship between the mind and its object what you have is a direct awareness of the existence of the object so existence is given directly you see but the nature of the object we seem to gain through reflection on reflection on those signs those sensory stimuli”
Friedrich Schleiermacher, a German idealist theologian influenced by Kant's Copernican revolution, shifts hermeneutical focus from the reader's subjectivity to the author's subjective intention and subjective grid, seeking to get behind the text to discover the author's intentional direction.
“Schleiermacher... gets interested in the subjective intention of the author that is to say he's not thinking of the grid that the reader brings but rather of the subjective grid of the author so for Shia marker the the function of any interpretation any hermeneutic is to get behind the text that the author has written and to discover the author's own intention”
Just as Christian theology shows a history of developing understanding (Trinitarian doctrine developing over centuries, Anselmian atonement theory, Reformation justification doctrine), biblical interpretation may show similar development over history, suggesting providential development in interpretation just as in theology.
“the history of the church shows a history of growing theological understanding okay so that the history of theology begins with for instance and attempt to understand God triune Caledonian formulation that develops over a period of three centuries for centuries and going on through the Middle Ages in trying to understand the atonement and cells cur Deus homo and trying to understand how we're acceptable to God the Reformation justification by faith you say that sort of growing understanding in the history of theology things being clarified and extended as it goes on it could be that what Aquinas is saying is that that sort of process is the case in the history of the interpretation of any passage and just as we ascribe the development of Christian theology to the providential activity of God so perhaps we should ascribe the history of the interpretation of a biblical passage to the Providence of God”
Literary texts and written works often take on a life of their own independent of authorial intention: teachers find meanings in student writing students never intended, literature scholars discover unintended significance, and even authors find reviewers attributing meanings to their work they did not consciously intend.
“a teacher finds something in what you've written that you never thought was there is he doesn't the the literature teacher tell us all the time that a text begins to take on a life of its own you see I find people writing reviews of stuff I write I want to set them straight all the time I've given up trying to do it but you see they think I'm saying something I don't think I am saying it once in a while when I get into conversation with someone but you said oh yes but I didn't mean that the text says something I suddenly didn't intend consciously was there a subconscious how do I know so do I ever really understand what I mean”
According to the professor's understanding, some medieval interpreters treated interpretation as a deistic enterprise (like fixed laws without God), while Aquinas represented a theistic approach where God is active in illuminating meaning not accessible through mechanical interpretive processes.
“some interpreters act like theists in that they regard interpretation as an entirely human rational almost mechanical process fixed laws in the absence of God who established the laws have left us to function under laws sort of a deistic view of interpretation and that Aquinas was she suggested more of a theistic kind of interpretation in the sense that God is active in the interpretive process in showing illuminating the meaning which might not be accessible by you strict mechanical laws of interpretation”
The professor argues that Rorty's skeptical conclusion relies on an illicit disjunction—that between certainty and skepticism—which assumes only two alternatives and ignores a probabilistic tradition in epistemology that offers third alternatives.
“my point is that my point in saying that he he does the the old move saying if I cannot have exact understanding with certainty I'm a skeptic he's appealing to an illicit disjunction that's not an all-inclusive classification of possibilities yes there's always been a kind of probabilistic tradition in between and contemporary epistemology of course works a great deal with other traditions than those two in terms of the justification of belief”
Paul Ricoeur emphasizes the text more strongly than Gadamer does, treating the text as a point of connection where author and interpreter meet and as an objective check on interpretation.
“paul ricoeur in his approach and he is in the same general ballfield lays emphasis on the text much more strongly I think that's recur who does that”
Maurice Merleau-Ponty was the most distinguished French philosopher in the 1950s-1960s.
“maurice merleau-ponty who after such became sort of passe maurice merleau-ponty was the most distinguished french philosopher in the i would say in the fifties sixties”
E.D. Hirsch wrote Cultural Literacy, a popular book arguing for cultural education based on canonical texts that educated persons should know, treating the text as an objective standard for interpretation.
“there is a man Edie Hirsch at University of Virginia who as I recall also lays emphasis on the text incidentally that's the Hirsch who wrote that book cultural literacy that was so popular a few years ago maintaining there are various classic texts which any literate person ought to be acquainted with his emphases and interpretation is on the text”
The American critical realism movement of the 1920s-1930s was essentially a continuation of the Scottish realist tradition of Thomas Reid.
“the term critical realism itself comes from the 1920's 1930's when there was an American philosophical movement known as critical realism which was essentially a continuation of the Scottish realist tradition in those 20 socials that's what we'll be talking about it short while”
Hans-Georg Gadamer develops hermeneutical theory extending from earlier thinkers like Schleiermacher and Heidegger, and his work represents the mainstream of contemporary hermeneutical thought through the 1970s.
“Gadamer ok and this is where we get to the the mainstream of contemporary hermeneutical thought and if you want to tap into its development up through gadamer not after gadamer but up through gadamer”
Paul Ricoeur, following Merleau-Ponty, develops a phenomenological hermeneutic that goes beyond existential concerns to interpret essential structures of human being-in-the-world including the voluntary and involuntary, freedom, guilt, language, and finitude.
“paul ricoeur... he has been very interested in a phenomenological hermeneutic that is to say interested not just in a philosophy of existence no he's gone beyond the existential concerns he's not an existentialist his is more of a general phenomenology but he's interested therefore in in a hermeneutic in the the interpretation of the interpretation of various aspects of human life what do we make of the voluntary and the involuntary how are we going to interpret the experience of freedom what about the phenomenology of guilt”
Gabriel Marcel renounced the term 'existentialist' because of its associations and instead called himself a philosopher of existence to avoid negative connotations.
“Gabriel Marcel is a French Catholic philosopher one of those that I called a religious existentialist though he renounced the term existentialists because of its associations and called himself a philosopher of existence trying to avoid the connotations”
A student can discuss the optional discussion topic Monday at 7 o'clock or meet with the instructor at the office Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. if the Monday time is impossible.
“I ask you please to observe the spirit of the rule by not trying to read the thing through the envelope it's not exactly morally kosher and today should be our last day on this European tradition 19th 20th century European and of course the examination covers through some optional discussion Monday 7 o'clock is that good as good as any time as good if it's impossible for you then stop by the office Tuesday 10:30 mirror belts in the morning I'll probably be in the office most of the morning on Tuesday”
Critical realism, a term that 'doesn't have much content at this juncture,' will be explained in detail later (approximately 10 days) and has historical roots in Scottish realism of Thomas Reid.
“I realize the term critical realism doesn't have much content at this juncture it will do in another 10 days but the the nearest anticipation we have am it I think is Scottish realism back to Thomas Reid”
The examination covers European intellectual tradition through the end of the last class discussion, with optional discussion scheduled for Monday at 7 o'clock.
“today should be our last day on this European tradition 19th 20th century European and of course the examination covers through some optional discussion Monday 7 o'clock is that good as good as any time as good if it's impossible for you then stop by the office Tuesday 10:30”
Students should observe the spirit of the exam rule by not attempting to read the examination through the envelope.
“three hours on the examination usual rules and due at the beginning of class next Wednesday I ask you please to observe the spirit of the rule by not trying to read the thing through the envelope it's not exactly morally kosher”