Mudabicara.com_ Hermeneutics became one of the studies that was horrendous at the beginning of its emergence. Besides being considered a science that does not meet the scientific method of hermeneutics, it is also considered a radical science in the study of the science of interpretation.
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The discourse on hermeneutics emerged at a time when social scientists were interested in studying old texts. Interest in old texts then raises fundamental questions about how the old text can be understood according to its original meaning.
With this anxiety finally emerged academic studies on the method of understanding. One of the phenomenal he is a professor of philosophy at the University of Heidelberg named Hans Georg Gadamer. So who is Hans Georg Gadamer and what is the theory of Hans Georg Gadamer’s Hermeneutics?
What is Hermeneutics?
Etymologically, hermeneutics comes from the Greek hermeneia which means to interpret or translate. Meanwhile, in terms of hermeneutics, it is a method of interpreting, interpreting understanding and giving meaning. Initially Hermeneutics had several other terms such as interpreting difficult-to-understand religious texts and translating language.
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In Greek mythology Hermeneutics was originally associated with the god Hermes. Hermes is the messenger between Zeus and humans. Hermes’ main task was to interpret Zeus’ message into a language that humans could understand.
At first, Hermeneutics appeared along with the narrative of the 16th century AD Humanism. Hermeneutics was used to understand difficult texts from the Bible . Christian theologians are trying to come up with a method that can help discover the truth of the Bible and determine one correct interpretation of the various interpretations.
Medieval Christian theologians believed that the Bible had four different meanings: literal, moral, allegorical and anagogical/eschatological.
History of hermeneutics
But then Christians interpreted the old covenant into the new covenant. This is where the science of hermeneutics is tested as a method. Christians are divided into two groups: first , Protestants who hold the principle of only the source of the scriptures ( sola scriptura). Second, Catholicism holds the principle of tradition that scripture is interpreted in the light of tradition.
On the other hand in the Jewish tradition, the text of the Torah is interpreted by the scribes. Interpretation aims to educate the public and critique religious practices to distinguish true religious teachings from false or heretical ones.
Finally, along with the development of the times, hermeneutics did not only study issues surrounding the literal and philosophical interpretation of religious texts. However, Hermeneutics shifts to the discussion of the cultural, social and historical situations that produce texts.
Who is Hans Georg Gadamer
Born in the city of Marburg, Germany to an educated family on February 11, 1900. His parents are Johannes Georg Gadamer and Emma Caroline Johanna Gewiese. Since childhood, Gadamer lived in an atmosphere of devout Protestant religion, but religion did not have a major influence on his academic journey. He lived for 102 years, died in Heidelberg on March 13, 2002.
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Gadamer’s academic career began as a student at the University of Breslau in 1918. He took up humanities studies that included history, philosophy and literature. Initially, Gadamer was directed to take science like his father, but Gadamer was more interested in studying the humanities, especially literature.
Gadamer’s fame began when he was one of Martin Heidegger’s students. Heidegger was Gadamer’s mentor when he wrote Habilitation (a scientific work after his dissertation). His work was later published under the title Plato’s Dialectical Ethics: Phenomenological Interpretations Relating to the Philebus.
The winding academic journey finally in 1938 Gadamer became a professor at the University of Leipzig. Gadamer’s greatest work that brought his name to become one of the Hermeneutics figures is Wahrheit und Methode (German) or Truth and Method. Gadamer argues that not only discourse and writing have meaning, but basically all human creations contain a certain meaning, in this context, hermeneutics has a very important role.
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Karya lain Gadamer antara lain Hegel’s Dialectic: Five Hermeneutical Studies; Philosophical Hermeneutics; Dialogue and Dialectic; Philosophical Apprenticeships; The Idea of the Good in Platonic-Aristotelian Philosophy; Dialogue and Deconstruction; Gadamer and Hermeneutics; Plato’s Dialectical Ethics; Hans-Georg Gadamer on Education, Poetry, and History; Truth and Method; Reason in the Age of Science; Heidegger’s Ways; The Enigma of Health; The Relevance of the Beautiful; The Beginning of Philosophy; Praise of Theory; Hermeneutics, Religion, and Ethics; Gadamer in Conversation; The Beginning of Knowledge; A Century of Philosophy; dan The Gadamer Reader: A Bouquet of the Later Writings. Lebih lanjut di Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://www.iep.utm.
Hans Georg Gadamer’s Hermeneutic Theory
Gadamer classifies 4 stages of hermeneutic theory in interpreting or understanding them.
1.Theory of Consciousness Influenced by History
Theory of Consciousness Influenced by History is an interpreter’s awareness of hermeneutic situations. According to this theory, an interpreter’s understanding is influenced by the background that surrounds him, starting from tradition, culture and life experience.
Therefore, when interpreting a text, an interpreter should be aware that he is in a certain position that can greatly color his understanding of a text that is being interpreted.
Gadamer says a person must learn to understand and recognize that in any understanding, whether he or she is aware of it or not will be influenced by the history that influences that person.
Overcoming this influence problem is not easy, as Gadamer admits. An interpreter must be able to overcome his subjectivity when he interprets a text.
2. Pre-Understanding Theory
Pre-comprehension theory is the first step of an interpreter in understanding the text. In the Pre-understanding Process an interpreter must get an initial estimate in understanding the text.
According to Gadamer, an interpreter must be open to criticism, rehabilitation and correction by the interpreter himself. When an interpreter has new knowledge and feels his pre-understanding is not quite right.
The pre-understanding process must be passed because without pre-understanding an interpreter will not succeed in understanding the text well.
3. Merging Theory or Hermeneutic Circle Theory
Merger theory is the process by which an interpreter brings together two horizons of knowledge. In Gadamer’s theory there are two horizons of knowledge, namely the horizon of text knowledge and the horizon of interpreter’s knowledge.
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According to Gadamer, these two horizons of knowledge must be communicated in order to gain a thorough understanding. That the analysis of the background of the text and the background of the interpreter must be brought together.
This theory can help understand what the text actually means. This is where there is a meeting between the subjectivity of the reader and the objectivity of the text, where the objective meaning of the text is prioritized.
4. Theory of Application or Application
Application theory is the process by which an interpreter applies what the interpreter understands.
For example, when a person interprets the scriptures, the sign that he understands is doing what he understands in the form of action.
Gadamer argues that the message that must be applied during the interpretation period is not the literal meaning of the text, but the meaningful sense , namely understanding with action.
That is the process of Hans Georg Gadamer’s hermeneutic theory, I hope you can understand it well. see you mudabicara.com