Hermeneutics

Hermeneutics is the art and theory of interpretation: the set of principles and methods that allow us to understand, explain and translate texts and, in a broader sense, any form of verbal or non-verbal communication.

The term comes from the Greek verb hermeneuein, meaning to interpret, declare, clarify or translate, and it is traditionally linked to Hermes, the messenger of the gods to whom the origin of language was attributed. Its original sense was that of unraveling obscure pronouncements, such as the riddles of oracles. Later, Aristotle gave the term a technical use in his treatise On Interpretation, devoted to the relationship between language and logic.

The discipline developed above all in a religious setting. In the Christian tradition, the interpretation of the Bible led to distinguishing several levels of meaning: the literal, obtained through philological analysis of the text, and others of a spiritual character, such as the allegorical, the moral and the anagogical. Something similar happened in Judaism with the rules for interpreting the Torah, and in Hinduism with the exegesis of the Vedas.

In the modern era, Friedrich Schleiermacher turned it into a general method aimed at understanding an author better than the author understands himself. Wilhelm Dilthey extended this perspective to the human sciences and formulated the hermeneutic circle: the meaning of each part of a text depends on the whole, and the whole can only be understood from its parts. This idea remains a basic starting point for reflection on interpretation.

In the twentieth century, Martin Heidegger placed understanding at the centre of human existence, and Hans-Georg Gadamer presented it in Truth and Method as an experience in which the interpreter, with his prejudices and history, takes part in the meaning of what he reads. Paul Ricoeur, for his part, sought to balance understanding with explanation, through the analysis of signs and the structures of the text.

Today the debate centres on whether there is a correct interpretation or whether all meaning depends on context and on the reader. Some authors consider it an indispensable tool of philology, literary criticism, theology and law; others see in it a path towards relativism. Its scope remains a matter of discussion.