Skip to main content
Log in

Rhetoric and Double Hermeneutics in the Human Sciences

  • Published:
Human Studies Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Based on an analysis of double hermeneutics in the human sciences, a distinction between a “weak” and a “strong” rhetorical analysis of human-scientific research is introduced, taking account of the self-reflective character of hermeneutic interpretation. The paper argues that there are three hermeneutic topics in the research process for human-scientific experience, which are associated with applying specific rhetorical tools. The three topics are described under the following rubrics: (a) bridging the gap between “experience-near” and “experience-distant” concepts; (b) achieving integrity of the cultural objects dispersed in different interpretive strategies; and (c) taking into consideration that an important task of hermeneutic interpretation in human-scientific research is to give an account of the object's immanent narrative coherence. The paper is written in the conviction that a kind of re-methodologization of philosophical hermeneutics which does not rehabilitate epistemological foundationalism can provide a new philosophical identity to the human sciences.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Davidson, D. (1978). What Metaphors Mean. Critical Inquiry5: 31-47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Derrida, J. (1971). La mythologie blanche. Poetique5: 24-67.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eger, M. (1995). Alternative Interpretations, History, and Experiment: Reply to Some Commentaries. Science & Education4(2): 173-188.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gadamer, H.-G. (1975). Truth and Method. New York: Seabury Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Geertz, C. (1976). From Native's Point of View: On the Nature of Anthropological Understanding. In K. Basso and H. Selby (Eds.), Meaning in Anthropology. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ginev, D. (1995). Die Mehrdimensionalität geisteswissenschaftlicher Erfahrung. Essen: Die blaue Eule.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ginev, D. (1996). Philosophy of the Human Sciences at the End of Modernity. ManuscritoXIX (1): 97-126.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heelan, P. (1989). After Experiment: Research and Reality. American Philosophical Quarterly26: 297-308.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hesse, M. (1966). Models and Analogies in Science. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hesse, M. (1980). Revolutions and Reconstructions in the Philosophy of Science. Brighton: Harvester Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaufmann, F. (1941). Strata of Experience. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research1: 313-324.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuhn, T. (1991). The Natural and the Human Sciences. In D.R. Hiley, J.F. Bohman and R. Shusterman (Eds.), The interpretive Turn. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Okrent, M. (1984). Hermeneutics, Transcendental Philosophy, and Social Science. Inquiry27: 23-49.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pike, K. (1966). Phonemics. A Technique for Reducing Language to Writing. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rorty, R. (1985). Epistemological Behaviorism and the De-Transcendentalization of Analytic Philosophy. In R. Hollinger (Ed.), Hermeneutic and Practice. Notre Dame, IN: Notre Dame University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rouse, J. ( 1996). Engaging Science (How to Understand Its Practices Philosophically). Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, C. (1980). Understanding in Human Science. Review of Metaphysics34: 18-31.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zilsel, E. (1931). Geschichte und Biologie. Archiv für Sozialwissenschaften65: 101-119.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zilsel, E. (1932). Bemerkungen zur Wissenschaftslogik. Erkenntnis3: 143-161.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Ginev, D. Rhetoric and Double Hermeneutics in the Human Sciences. Human Studies 21, 259–271 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005327608803

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005327608803

Keywords

Navigation