Reconsidering Relativism and Intentionalism in Interpretation : Donald Davidson, Hermeneutics, and Pragmatism

This study focuses on two philosophical issues related to the interpretation of art. Firstly, it considers the role of authorial intentions in interpretation. Secondly, the study raises the issue of relativism in interpretation through a discussion of the relativistic tendencies apparent in the views of three major figures of contemporary philosophy: Joseph Margolis, Hans-Georg Gadamer, and Richard Rorty. The major goal of the thesis is to develop a theory of interpretation supporting the role of authorial intentions in interpretation on the basis of Donald Davidson s late philosophy of language and the holistic account of interpretation that underlies different parts of his philosophy. It is my belief that an intentionalist view of interpretation built on Davidsonian elements manages to form the most convincing defense of that interpretive position against the skepticism present in the views of Margolis, Gadamer, and Rorty. The theoretical issues addressed in the thesis are illuminated by discussions of case-examples, most importantly Richard Wagner s The Valkyrie, Thomas Adés America: A Prophecy, and some symphonies by Dimitri Shostakovich. In chapter one, I present a critical discussion of Margolis robust relativism. While finding Margolis criticism of the self-refutive argument plausible, I, nevertheless, argue that the relativistic logic Margolis offers should not be favored in interpretation. The first parts of chapter two outline Davidsonian intentionalism by presenting a reading of Davidson s later work in philosophy of language and mind, and by indicating its relationship to Davidson s views of literature. Then, I shall compare Davidson s ideas with some recent modest forms of intentionalism found in analytic aesthetics, and argue that Davidsonian intentionalism is in many respects more satisfactory compared to them. Chapter three engages Gadamer s hermeneutics by defending E.D. Hirsch s criticism of Gadamer. Uncovering the shortcomings in the replies of Gadamer s followers to Hirsch s criticism serves as a basis for the defense of intentionalism in interpretation carried out in the chapter. That defense is then extended with a discussion of some recent hermeneutic readings of Davidson s views. Chapter four deals with the standing of intentionalism through Rorty s pragmatist approach to literature. By indicating the position of pragmatist notions of aesthetic experience and imagination in Davidsonian intentionalism, it is shown that an intentionalist approach need not be as impoverished with regard to the value Rorty attributes to literature as he assumes. The concluding chapter outlines some ways in which one can be a pluralist with regard to art and interpretation without falling into relativism.

In the footstep of Hermes: the meaning of the hermeneutics and symbolism

Translated by Michael Marder

Hermeneutics, accreting receptions, hypermedia: A tool for reference versus a tool for instruction

We provide a select overview of tools supporting traditional Jewish learning. Then we go on to discuss our own HyperJoseph/HyperIsaac project in instructional hypermedia. Its application is to teaching, teacher training, and self-instruction in given Bible passages. The treatment of two narratives has been developed thus far. The tool enables an analysis of the text in several respects: linguistic, narratological, etc. Moreover, the Scriptures' focality throughout the cultural history makes this domain of application particularly challenging, in that there is a requirement for the tool to encompass the accretion of receptions in the cultural repertoire, i.e., several layers of textual traditions—either hermeneutic (i.e., interpretive), or appropriations—related to the given core passage, thus including "secondary" texts (i.e., such that are responding or derivative) from as disparate realms as Roman-age and later homiletics, Medieval and later commentaries or supercommentaries, literary appropriations, references to the arts and modern scholarship, etc. in particular, the Midrash (homiletic expansions) is adept at narrative gap filling, so the narratives mushroom at the interstices where the primary text is silent. The genealogy of the project is rooted in Weiss' index of novelist Agnon's writings, which was eventually upgraded into a hypertextual tool, including Agnon's full-text and ancillary materials. Those early tools being intended primarily for reference and research-support in literary studies, the Agnon hypertext system was initially emulated in the conception of HyperJoseph, which is applied to the Joseph story from Genesis. Then, the transition from a tool for reference to an instructional tool required a thorough reconception in an educational perspective, which led to HyperIsaac, on the sacrifice of Isaac, and to a redesign and upgrade of HyperJoseph as patterned after HyperIsaac.

Gadamer's transformation of hermeneutics : from Dilthey to Heidegger

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to show how Gadamer's hermeneutics synthesizes the insights of both Heidegger and Dilthey in order to introduce a new hermeneutics. Gadamer's hermeneutics is based not only on the priority of ontology, as Heidegger insists, and neither is it only a product of life which can be objectively understood through study and rigorous method, as Dilthey suggests. For Gadamer, hermeneutics is the bringing together of ontology in terms of history. By this synthesis Gadamer not only places himself within the context of a Lebensphilosophie, but also shows that it is within language that Being can be disclosed according to a lived context. Throughout this paper the philosophies ofDilthey and Heidegger are explicated within a historical context as to bring out how, and why, Gadamer sees the need to surpass these philosophies. Through Gadamer's philosophy of play and the game, language, the dialogical model, application, and the fusion of horizons we can see how Gadamer's critique and questioning of these two philosophy leads to his new hermeneutics. Special attention is paid to the role in which these two contrasting philosophies were used to complement each other in the product of Gadamer' s philosophical hermeneutics as it is presented in his major work Truth andMethod. For Gadamer, the task of understanding is never complete. Therefore, his hermeneutics remains a dynamic structure with which we can always question the past and our traditions. This paper seeks to show his philosophical movements within these questions

Towards a new Qur’ânic hermeneutics based on historico-critical and intertextual approaches : the case of the crucifixion of Jesus in the tafâsîr of eight muslim exegetes

Le Coran et la Sunna (la tradition du prophète Muḥammad) relatée dans les aḥâdîth (les traditions orales du Prophète) représentent la source éternelle d’inspiration et de savoir à laquelle les Musulmans se réfèrent pour agir, réagir et interagir. Par le fait même, tout au long de l’histoire musulmane, ces sources sacrées ont été à la base des relations des Musulmans avec autrui, incluant les Chrétiens. Les trois éléments majeurs de différenciation entre l’islam et le christianisme sont : la nature divine de Jésus, la trinité ainsi que la crucifixion et la mort de Jésus sur la croix. La position tranchée du Coran quant aux deux premiers points ne laisse place à aucun débat académique. Cependant, l’ambiguïté du texte coranique quant à la crucifixion de Jésus et sa mort a favorisé de nombreux débats entre mufassirûn (les exégètes du Coran). Cette thèse est une analyse textuelle des deux passages coraniques qui traitent de cette troisième différence. Pour cette étude textuelle et intertextuelle, les tafâsîr (interprétations du Coran) de huit mufassirûn appartenant à différentes madhâhib (écoles d’interprétation) et périodes de l’histoire des relations musulmanes-chrétiennes sont utilisés en combinaison avec certaines approches et méthodes récentes telles que : historico-critique et critique rédactionnelle. De plus, trois nouvelles théories développées dans la thèse enrichissent les outils herméneutiques de la recherche : la « théorie des cinq couches de sens », la « théorie des messages coraniques doubles » et la « théorie de la nature humaine tripartite ». À la lumière de ces théories et méthodes, il apparaît que l’ambiguïté coranique au sujet de la crucifixion et de la mort de Jésus est une invitation claire de la part du Coran incitant les Musulmans et les Chrétiens à vivre avec cette ambiguïté insoluble. La conclusion de cette thèse contribue directement à de meilleures relations musulmanes-chrétiennes, renforçant l’appel coranique (Coran 3:64, 103) à ces deux communautés leurs demandant de se cramponner aux points communs majeurs, d’intégrer leurs différences mineures et de consacrer leurs énergies pour une vie harmonieuse entre eux et laisser le reste dans les mains du Dieu qu’ils ont en commun.

A blow to the idealistic: critique of hermeneutics for online management education

This paper discusses an interpretive project based on online management education experiences and concludes that the teacher's task in relation to hermeneutics contains elements that contradict the implied sense of ease the simplified hermeneutic ideal presupposes. In the study of these problems, the struggle of theory with practice, this paper presents an applied perspective of the translation oftheory into practice that may assist practitioners and theorists alike. The aim is to contextually critique hermeneutics in a terse but constructive mannerfor those involved in online management education and related fields.

The hybrid stranger and intercultural hermeneutics

The category of the stranger has experienced a renaissance in contemporary social theory. Within this burgeoning literature, a new conceptualisation has emerged known as the 'in-between stranger' or the 'hybrid of modernity'. The formulation of this stranger has raised epistemological concerns. Not only can the hybrid expose the misunderstanding between Self and Other or between two life-worlds, it is able to transcend the self/other dichotomy. The unresolved hermeneutic problem -the meeting with strangers -results in uncertainty, in particular uncertainty about how to read and respond to unfamiliar social situations. What is interesting is not the fact that misunderstanding occurs between the host and the stranger, but that the stranger's physical nearness and social distance fosters an interpretative view of the world that is not accessible to either the host (Self) or parent group (Other). The position of hybrid strangers purportedly encourages a critical and 'objective' stance that transcends conventional and 'situated' knowledge. The discourse on 'the stranger', beginning with Simmel, has constructed the hybrid stranger as disinterested third party. This in-between, third position allows hybrid strangers to see things more clearly and/or differently than those occupying opposing positions or cultural perspectives. In this paper I critically examine the nature of this third type of consciousness and its association with the idea of the intercultural.

lntercultural hermeneutics and the cross-cultural subject

The paper critically engages with contemporary theories of cross-cultural understanding and cross-cultural subjectivity found in the areas of intercultural hermeneutics, intercultural social theory and the discourse on the stranger. Drawing on Gadamerian hermeneutics the paper takes some preliminary steps in formulating an alternative conception of the in-between subject and cross-cultural interpretation that incorporates the ambivalence of boundaries, the enabling dimension of essentialism and acknowledges the role that fore-meanings and fore-structures have on cross-cultural understanding. In contrast to existing theories I conclude that the cross-cultural subject is situated within the intercultural encounter rather than dwelling above it.

Dialogue with Hans-Georg Gadamer : the contribution of hermeneutics to understanding what a person is saying

This thesis reviews the development of philosophy of interpretation since the nineteenth century exemplified in the work of Hans-Georg Gadamer, It recognizes Gadamer as the foremost philosopher of hermeneutics in the twentieth century, who draws together the contributions of his predecessors into a major new development. The theme upon which this thesis engages in dialogue with Gadamer is concentrated on the problem of making experience the sole object of hermeneutics to the exclusion of persons and what they say, considered objectively. The problem with this is to express the role of interpretative practices philosophically if non-objectifying thinking is normative for hermeneutics. A solution is found by following up Gadamer’s insight into the influence of tradition on understanding, I show that tradition and its truth, as well as not being separable from the understanding subject's thinking, are also not detached from an author's intentions and are shared by human beings understanding one another. The transmissive nature of tradition discloses its own method for understanding what a person is saying and the ethical requirements of truth are forwarded by following that method.

Application of hermeneutics to studying an experience mining process

In this paper we investigate an approach to eliciting practitioners’ problem-solving experience across an application domain. The approach is based on a well-known ‘pattern mining’ process which commonly results in a collection of sharable and reusable ‘design patterns’. While pattern mining has been recognised to work effectively in numerous domains, its main problem is the degree of technical proficiency that few domain practitioners are prepared to master. In our approach to pattern mining, patterns are induced indirectly from designers’ experience, as determined by analysing their past projects, the problems encountered and solutions applied in problem rectification. Through the cycles of hermeneutic revisions, the pattern mining process has been refined and ultimately its deficiencies addressed. The hermeneutic method used in the study has been clearly shown in the paper and illustrated with examples drawn from the multimedia domain. The resulting approach to experience elicitation provided opportunities for active participation of multimedia practitioners in capturing and sharing their design experience.