ZusammenfassungIn der Philosophie hat das Interesse an Wilhelm Dilthey in jüngster Zeit wieder merklich zugenommen. Man könnte geradezu von einer kleinen Dilthey-Renaissance sprechen. In der Theologie indes beginnt man sich erst langsam wieder auf sein Werk zu besinnen. Dabei hält es auch für sie wichtige Einsichten bereit. Dilthey ist vor allem deshalb interessant, weil es ihm gelingt, die Religionsthematik konsequent auf dem Boden eines interpretativen Kulturmodells zu entwickeln.

Diltheys Denken wird seit der zweiten H?lfte des 20. Jahrhunderts aus einer hermeneutischen, durch Gadamer bestimmten Perspektive beurteilt. Dilthey am Ma?stab der Hermeneutik zu messen bedeutet aber, seine grundlegend handlungstheoretische Einstellung auszublenden. Denn die?innere Erfahrung?, auf die bei der erkenntnistheoretischen Grundlegung der Geisteswissenschaften zur?ckgegangen wird, hat die Struktur von Handlung. Sie wird von Dilthey als?Zweckzusammenhang? bzw. auf einen Zweck gerichteter Funktionszusammenhang beschrieben, schlie?lich geht es dem Menschen schon auf der biologischen Ebene darum, triebhaft gesteuerte Bed?rfnisse durch entsprechende Handlungen (...) zu befriedigen. Das Erlebnis des zweckgerichteten psychischen Zusammenhangs gibt uns das Muster f?r das Verst?ndnis der Welt vor.?Verstehen? wird dem entsprechend von Dilthey als?Nacherleben? konzipiert. Naturalismus und Hermeneutik werden in diesem Konzept einander angen?hert. nema. (shrink)

Despite the usual genealogies of hermeneutics, Heidegger’s appropriation of Dilthey’s philosophy only deals marginally with hermeneutics. Nevertheless, this paper aims to shed light on elements in favour of an implicit continuity in hermeneutics from Dilthey to Heidegger. Against the general background of the conception of life as self-interpretation, which allows the ontological radicalisation of Dilthey’s hermeneutical concepts, some diltheyan historical and aesthetical paradigms prove to be at work in Heidegger’s first phenomenology of life. “Destruction” itself, the very core of Heidegger’s (...) concept of hermeneutics, can be partially traced back to diltheyan sources. (shrink)

In contrast to the hermeneutics of Hans-Georg Gadamer, which maintains the interpretation of classical texts, I emphasize the role of images in our everyday understanding. I see the added value of images in the fact that they show the latent background, from which the manifest messages draw their actual significance. Before Thomas Mitchell’s “pictorial turn”, I referred to the iconic turn as “imagic turn” in order to emphasize the originary connection between images and magic rituals. The magical component of the (...) hermeneutic image is to the human ability to make something absent present. (shrink)

Apart from Heidegger, Husserl and Yorck Dilthey ranks as the deciding stimulator, but also as one of the most important opponents of »philosophical hermeneutics« founded by Gadamer. Nevertheless, Gadamer's »philosophical hermeneutics« sees itself as decisive radicalness and as the overcoming of Dilthey's philosophy of human sciences. Inspired from Heidegger's thinking the criticism of Dilthey and the construction of his historical philosophy of life mirror – as the essay wants to show in detail – Gadamer's adoption of keywords like lived experience, (...) expression and understanding in Dilthey's theory of human sciences. According to Gadamer Dilthey is a leading representative of historical enlightenment that follows a wrong ideal of historical knowledge which can be traced in his terms, too. Gadamer's knowledge of the interpreter's affinity to his text as a necessary condition of understanding takes the place of Dilthey's naive methodologism and objectivism criticised by Gadamer. This leads to a transformation of Dilthey's world of concepts in his philosophy of life into terms which cannot deny their roots in philosophy of existence. (shrink)

Die Dilthey-Forschung der letzten Jahre hat Dilthey tendenziell von dem Bild einer rein 'kontinentalen' Philosophie der Hermeneutik des Lebens weggerückt. Vielmehr war sein Wissenschaftsverständnis holistisch und einem umfassenden Erfahrungsbegriff verpflichtet. Statt Geistes- und Naturwissenschaften einander entgegenzusetzen, brachte er eine empiristisch eingestellte akademische Philosophie auf den Weg.

Die aus Überlegungen zur Kunst der Auslegung und zur Frage nach der Wahrheit in den Geisteswissenschaften entstandene hermeneutische Bewegung ist dank Dilthey, Heidegger, Gadamer und Ricoeur zu einer universellen Philosophie der Interpretation ausgeweitet worden. Jean Grondin widmet sich in dieser Einführung den Ursprüngen der Hermeneutik, ihren wichtigsten philosophischen Vertretern und den Diskussionen, die sie hervorgerufen hat.

Handbuch Philosophie is a series edited by Elisabeth Ströker and Wolfgang Wieland, the purpose of which is to present various fields and themes in contemporary thought. The author of the present work, who teaches philosophy in Erlangen and Heidelberg, has previously published two books in the history and theory of interpretation. The study is divided into two parts: the first adopts a systematic approach to its theme; the second develops a historical perspective. Using the Gadamerian term "philosophical hermeneutics," the author (...) wishes to summarize three different fields or levels of questioning: the interpretation of texts, the understanding of human deeds and actions in general, and the idea of understanding as an ontological determination of man. The first level relates to the traditional art of hermeneutics as developed within theology and jurisprudence and, eventually, philology; the second refers primarily to the work of Dilthey and to different modern theories of human action and behavior; the third, finally, concerns the ontological turn that hermeneutics undergoes in Heidegger and Gadamer. Thus, "philosophical hermeneutics" is not the designation of a clearly delimited discipline, but the rather arbitrary name for a conglomerate of thinkers, questions, and disciplines which could be said to converge around the problem of human understanding. Ineichen's study is a handbook intended to serve as an introduction to this amorphous field. Despite its basically pedagogical intention, however, it is guided throughout by a highly critical spirit. (shrink)

English summary: Gadamer's main work, Truth and Method, will be published in 2010, exactly 50 years after the first edition, in a slightly corrected version as an inexpensive student edition. This is seen as one of the few standard works of German post-war philosophy which has achieved worldwide recognition. The huge reaction to this is surprising for many reasons, among other things because in this work an important new theory is presented in intimations only using the author's own conceptual instruments; (...) in fact the author is careful when touching on ancient themes in the philosophical approach to the world. The main question in the work is: What actually happens when we understand? Gadamer focuses on the historical dimensions of understanding, including his famous rehabilitation of prejudice. In addition to the systematic excursus, the book contains an intellectual history of hermeneutics, which is convincing in its virtuosity in dealing with a variety of inspirational figures such as Hegel, Dilthey, Husserl and Heidegger. The amiability and objectivity with which Gadamer invites his readers to a discussion are what account for the enormous influence of this exemplary textbook. German description: Wir sagen, dass wir ein Gesprach fuhren, aber je eigentlicher ein Gesprach ist, desto weniger liegt die Fuhrung desselben in dem Willen des einen oder anderen Partners. Was bei einem Gesprach herauskommt, weiss keiner vorher. Das Hauptwerk Wahrheit und Methode erscheint 2010, genau 50 Jahre nach der Erstausgabe, in durchgesehener und korrigierter Form als preiswerte Studienausgabe. Dieses Buch, das sein Autor erst im Alter von 60 Jahren schrieb, wurde zu einem Uberraschungserfolg der philosophischen Literatur. Als eines der wenigen weltweit anerkannten Standardwerke der deutschen Nachkriegsphilosophie wurde es in viele Sprachen ubersetzt.Die grosse Resonanz konnte aus vielerlei Grunden erstaunen, unter anderem weil hier nur in Andeutungen eine grosse neue Theorie mit eigenem begrifflichen Instrumentarium vorgestellt wird; der Autor umkreist vorsichtig uralte Themen des philosophischen Weltzugangs. Vor allem geht es um die Frage: Was geschieht eigentlich, wenn wir verstehen? Er stellt die geschichtliche Dimension des Verstehens in den Mittelpunkt, auch durch seine beruhmte Rehabilitierung des Vorurteils. Die systematischen Exkurse werden erganzt durch eine Geistesgeschichte der Hermeneutik, die in ihrer virtuosen Behandlung so unterschiedlicher Anreger wie Hegel, Dilthey, Husserl und Heidegger uberzeugt. Die Freundlichkeit und Sachlichkeit, mit der Gadamer seinen Leser ins Gesprach einladt, machen den Rang dieses vorbildlichen Lehrbuchs aus. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Das strukturierte Ganze: Studien zum Werk von Wilhelm DiltheyRudolf LuetheFrithjof Rodi. Das strukturierte Ganze: Studien zum Werk von Wilhelm Dilthey. Weilerswist: Velbrück Wissenschaft, 2003. Pp. 281. Cloth, €39,00.This book contains a collection of fourteen articles and essays by the well-known and highly respected German Dilthey scholar Frithjof Rodi. The majority of the texts were written between 1992 and 2002 but they have been revised and updated for publication (...) in this volume. All of the papers discuss the work of the German hermeneutic philosopher Wilhelm Dilthey, but a variety of connected topics is also covered.The first two parts of the book contain articles analysing Dilthey's work in the two central areas of hermeneutics, especially the philosophical theory of historical knowledge, and aesthetics. While one of the central issues of Dilthey's hermeneutics is the reflection on the relation between life, history and historical knowledge, the core concepts of his aesthetics are "expression" and "vivacity" (Lebendigkeit). The two areas are connected via Dilthey's all-compassing interest in the structures of unities, be these forms of experiences or works of art. Dilthey's influential idea of a "dynamic unity" is discussed in the chapter entitled "Das Erlebnis: die 'dynamische Einheit'."The two other parts of the volume contain articles and essays by Rodi which refer to specific aspects of Dilthey's scholarly life and work and his position within nineteenth and early twentieth-century German philosophy, respectively. Although most of the articles in this book are strictly scholarly and document Rodi's thorough knowledge of every aspect of Dilthey's work, some of the essays in the third part are of a more polemical character. In one of these polemical essays Rodi fundamentally criticizes Hans Albert's concept of a "naturalistic" form of hermeneutics.The title of the collection draws on one of Dilthey's most important convictions to the effect that there are "different forms of unity," a conviction that is repeated in the title of the chapter: "'Der Zweck ist eben das strukturierte Ganze selbst.'" Although this article refers to the relevance of music in Dilthey's life and work, and although the concept of structured whole is itself taken from his [End Page 216] work on aesthetics, Rodi's claim is that this idea is relevant also to the other areas of Dilthey's philosophical endeavours, especially in his work on the hermeneutics of historical knowledge. The parts of the volume dedicated to this topic discuss very important issues, indeed: The critique of historical reason not only analyses different forms of structural unities, it also formulates many relevant distinctions within the concept of life, reminding us that Dilthey not only started his academic career as a theologian but that also as a philosopher he thought of "the divine in nature and history as an evident condition of thought and action" (10).One of Rodi's early books, entitled Morphologie und Hermeneutik (Stuttgart, 1969), discussed Dilthey's aesthetics within the context of Goethe's organolocical thinking. The first two chapters in part two try to correct some of the convictions formulated in this earlier book. In particular, Rodi now regards his use there of the term "morphology" as a confused running together of both Romantic and positivistic elements. The central issue of the chapter "Der 'schaffende' Ausdruck. Bemerkungen zu einer Kategorie des späten Dilthey" is a comparison between the concepts of hermeneutics formulated by Dilthey and Gadamer, respectively.The two chapters of part four, written in 1992 and in 2002, respectively, are dedicated to more specialized issues. The first of them, on "the intensity of life," refers to the relations of the "radical" work of Graf Yorck von Wartenburg to the thinking of both Heidegger and Dilthey, while the last chapter in the volume gives a detailed and inspiring interpretation of Bollnow's concept of "articulating decription" (artikulierende Beschreibung). A somewhat personal aspect of this last essay is the fact that here Rodi also reflects on the way in which Dilthey's philosophy influenced his own philosophical efforts and convictions: Rodi's philosophical mentor, Otto Friedrich Bollnow, was a student of Dilthey.The book also contains valuable supplementary material... (shrink)

Since 1968 there has been a renewal of interest in Dilthey which has revealed new facets of his work and shown the need for a fundamental revision of the prevailing general conception of Dilthey. In 1968 Peter Krausser, in Kritik der endlichen Vernunft. Diltheys Revolution der allgemeinen Wissenschafts- und Handlungstheorie, brought out the connection between his epistemological and social-hermeneutic concerns by isolating a theory of functional structure running through his work which was seen as an anticipation of a cybernetic (...) approach. Krausser concluded by contrasting this "structure-theory" favorably with contending positions in current debate, Adorno and Habermas, Gadamer, and Popper. In the same year Habermas devoted two chapters of Erkenntnis und Interesse to Dilthey. Although he related him rather exclusively to a theoretical grounding of "the Geisteswissenschaften", the effect of Habermas’ parallel treatment of Dilthey, Peirce, and Freud was to free Dilthey from the confines of his received image. This worked to undermine the tripartite division of natural, humanistic, and social science which Habermas adapted from Scheler. Just as Peirce’s ideas on the fixation of belief concern not only experimental method but the psychology of experience, so Dilthey’s grasp of the relation of lived experience, objectivation, and understanding bears directly on experience in the full practical sense. In 1969 Frithjof Rodi, in Morphologie und Hermeneutik. Dilthey’s Ästhetik, connected his more "humanistic" work with his interests in biology and physiology, complementing the formal continuity of "structure-theory" established by Krausser and reintegrating this with a more familiar Dilthey. More recently others, above all Manfred Riedel and Ulrich Herrmann, have made important critical and editorial contributions, relying like Krausser on their familiarity with unpublished manuscripts, including that of the second volume of the Einleitung in die Geisteswissenschaften, which Rodi is currently editing, in collaboration with Johach, for publication as volumes 18 and 19 of the Gesammelte Schriften. The availability of these texts should consolidate the revolution of the conventional image of Dilthey, under way since 1968, and Johach’s book must be welcomed as an anticipation of that edition. (shrink)

Introduction to the Human Sciences carries forward a projected six-volume translation series of the major writings of Wilhelm Dilthey --a philosopher and historian of culture who has had a strong and continuing influence on twentieth-century Continental philosophy as well as a broad range of other scholarly disciplines. In addition to his landmark works on the theories of history and the human sciences, Dilthey made important contributions to hermeneutics and phenomenology, aesthetics, psychology, and the methodology of the social sciences. The Selected (...) Works will make accessible to English-speaking readers the full range of Dilthey's thought, including some historical essays and literary criticism. The series provides translations of complete texts, together with editorial notes, and contains manuscript materials that are currently being published for the first time in Germany. This volume brings together the various parts of the Introduction to the Human Sciences published separately in the German edition. Rudolf Makkreel and Frithjof Rodi have underscored the systematic character of Dilthey's theory of the human sciences by translating the bulk of Dilthey's first volume and his important drafts for the never-completed second volume. (shrink)

This volume provides Dilthey's most mature and best formulation of his Critique of Historical Reason. It begins with three "Studies Toward the Foundation of the Human Sciences," in which Dilthey refashions Husserlian concepts to describe the basic structures of consciousness relevant to historical understanding. The volume next presents the major 1910 work The Formation of the Historical World in the Human Sciences. Here Dilthey considers the degree to which carriers of history--individuals, cultures, institutions, and communities--can be articulated as productive systems (...) capable of generating value and meaning and of realizing purposes. Hegel's idea of objective spirit is reconceived in a more empirical form to designate the medium of commonality in which historical beings are immersed. Any universal claims about history need to be framed within the specific productive systems analyzed by the various human sciences. Dilthey's drafts for the Continuation of the Formation contain extensive discussions of the categories most important for our knowledge of historical life: meaning, value, purpose, time, and development. He also examines the contributions of autobiography to historical understanding and of biography to scientific history. The finest summary of Dilthey's views on hermeneutics can be found in "The Understanding of Other Persons and Their Manifestations of Life." Here, Dilthey differentiates understanding relative to three kinds of manifestations of life. After giving his analysis of elementary understanding, he examines the role of induction in higher understanding and interpretation, and the relevance of transposition and re-experiencing for grasping individuality. (shrink)

English summary: Der Band legt erstmals Diltheys groae, wirkungsreiche Berliner Vorlesung zur allgemeinen Geschichte der Philosophie vor, die er uber einen Zeitraum von zwanzig Jahren (zwischen dem Sommersemester 1885 und dem Wintersemester 1905/06) gehalten hat. Auaerdem wird der Biographisch-literarische Grundria wieder zuganglich gemacht, der fur die Horer der Vorlesung gedruckt wurde und in sechs - jeweils aktualisierten - Auflagen erschienen ist.Mit Band XXIII kommt die Edition von Diltheys Vorlesungen im Rahmen der Ausgabe seiner Gesammelten Schriften zu ihrem Abschlua. (...) Der Band stutzt sich unter anderem auf die beiden groaen Vorlesungsnachschriften von Eduard Spranger (Wintersemester 1900/01) und Herman Nohl (Wintersemester 1902/03).Dilthey entwirft die Geschichte der Philosophie aus universalhistorischer Perspektive und behandelt die Geschichte des menschlichen Denkens von den religios-philosophischen Konzeptionen der Volker des Ostens bis zur westeuropaischen Philosophie des spaten 19. Jahrhunderts. Dabei verfolgt er nicht rein doxographische Interessen, sondern versteht Philosophiegeschichte auch als Teil der philosophischen Grundlegung. German description: Der Band legt erstmals Diltheys groae, wirkungsreiche Berliner Vorlesung zur allgemeinen Geschichte der Philosophie vor, die er uber einen Zeitraum von zwanzig Jahren (zwischen dem Sommersemester 1885 und dem Wintersemester 1905/06) gehalten hat. Auaerdem wird der Biographisch-literarische Grundria wieder zuganglich gemacht, der fur die Horer der Vorlesung gedruckt wurde und in sechs - jeweils aktualisierten - Auflagen erschienen ist.Mit Band XXIII kommt die Edition von Diltheys Vorlesungen im Rahmen der Ausgabe seiner Gesammelten Schriften zu ihrem Abschlua. Der Band stutzt sich unter anderem auf die beiden groaen Vorlesungsnachschriften von Eduard Spranger (Wintersemester 1900/01) und Herman Nohl (Wintersemester 1902/03).Dilthey entwirft die Geschichte der Philosophie aus universalhistorischer Perspektive und behandelt die Geschichte des menschlichen Denkens von den religios-philosophischen Konzeptionen der Volker des Ostens bis zur westeuropaischen Philosophie des spaten 19. Jahrhunderts. Dabei verfolgt er nicht rein doxographische Interessen, sondern versteht Philosophiegeschichte auch als Teil der philosophischen Grundlegung. (shrink)

Bd. 1. Einleitung in die Geisteswissenschaft. 2. Aufl.--Bd. 2. Weltanschauung und Analyse des Menschen seit Renaissance und Reformation.--Bd. 3. Studien zur Geschichte des deutschen Geistes.--Bd. 4. Die Jugendgeschichte Hegels und andere Abhandlungen zur Geschichte des deutschen Idealismus.--Bd. 5-6. Die Geistige Welt.--Bd. 7. Der Aufbau der geschichtlichen Welt in den Geisteswissenschaften.--Bd. 8. Weltanschauungslehre.--Bd. 9. Pädagogik.--Bd. 10. System der Ethik.--Bd. 11. Vom Aufgang des geschichtlichen Bewussteins.--Bd. 12. Zur preussischen Geschichte.

Perhaps no philosopher has so fully explored the nature and conditions of historical understanding as Wilhelm Dilthey. His work, conceived overall as a Critique of Historical Reason and developed through his well-known theory of the human studies, provides concepts and methods still fruitful for those concerned with analyzing the human condition. Despite the increasing recognition of Dilthey's contributions, relati vely few of his writings have as yet appeared in English translation. It is therefore both timely and useful to have available (...) here two works drawn from different phases in the development of his philosophy. The "Ideas Concerning a Descriptive and Analytic Psychology" (1894), now translated into English for the first time, sets forth Dilthey's programma tic and methodological viewpoints through a descriptive psychology, while "The Understanding of Other Persons and Their Expressions of Life" (ca. 1910) is representative of his later hermeneutic approach to historical understanding. DESCRIPTIVE PSYCHOLOGY AND THE HUMAN STUDIES Dilthey presented the first mature statement of his theory of the human studies in volume one of his Einleitung in die Geisteswissenschaften (Introduction to the Human Studies), published in 1883. He argued there that for the proper study of man and history we must eschew the metaphysical speculation of the absolute idealists while at the same time avoiding the scientistic reduction of positivism. (shrink)

Dilthey is a figure of real importance in European philosophy and social theory. He exerted a significant influence on Husserl, Heidegger and Weber (among others) through his work on the nature of philosophy and the methodology and epistemology of human and social studies. He was also a distinguished and original historian of ideas and, indeed, many of his philosophical interests arose from the insights and practical difficulties he encountered as a historian. He produced a monumental biography of Schleiermacher, and a (...) series of shorter, but no less striking studies of Hegel, Dickens, Shakespeare, Schiller and many others. (shrink)

This volume provides Dilthey's most mature and best formulation of his Critique of Historical Reason. It begins with three "Studies Toward the Foundation of the Human Sciences," in which Dilthey refashions Husserlian concepts to describe the basic structures of consciousness relevant to historical understanding. The volume next presents the major 1910 work The Formation of the Historical World in the Human Sciences. Here Dilthey considers the degree to which carriers of history--individuals, cultures, institutions, and communities--can be articulated as productive systems (...) capable of generating value and meaning and of realizing purposes. Hegel's idea of objective spirit is reconceived in a more empirical form to designate the medium of commonality in which historical beings are immersed. Any universal claims about history need to be framed within the specific productive systems analyzed by the various human sciences. Dilthey's drafts for the Continuation of the Formation contain extensive discussions of the categories most important for our knowledge of historical life: meaning, value, purpose, time, and development. He also examines the contributions of autobiography to historical understanding and of biography to scientific history. The finest summary of Dilthey's views on hermeneutics can be found in "The Understanding of Other Persons and Their Manifestations of Life." Here, Dilthey differentiates understanding relative to three kinds of manifestations of life. After giving his analysis of elementary understanding, he examines the role of induction in higher understanding and interpretation, and the relevance of transposition and re-experiencing for grasping individuality. (shrink)

The philosopher and historian of culture Wilhelm Dilthey (1833-1911) has had a significant and continuing influence on twentieth-century Continental philosophy and in a broad range of scholarly disciplines. This volume is the third to be published in Princeton University Press's projected six-volume series of his most important works. Part One makes available three of his works on hermeneutics and its history: "Schleiermacher's Hermeneutical System in Relation to Earlier Protestant Hermeneutics" (The Prize Essay of 1860); "On Understanding and Hermeneutics" (1867-68), based (...) on student lecture notes, and the "The Rise of Hermeneutics" (1900), which traces the history of hermeneutics back to Hellenistic Greece. All the addenda to this well-known essay are translated here, some for the first time. In them Dilthey articulates three philosophical aporias concerning hermeneutics and projects an ultimate convergence between understanding and explanation. Part Two provides translations of review essays by Dilthey on Buckle's use of statistical history and on Burckhardt's cultural history; an essay "Friedrich Schlosser and the Problem of Universal History;" and a talk recalling his early years as a student of Boeckh, Jakob Grimm, Mommsen, Ranke, and Ritter. It also contains the important historical essay "The Eighteenth Century and the Historical World," in which Dilthey reexamines the Enlightenment to show its significant contributions to the rise of historical consciousness. (shrink)

Wilhelm Dilthey: Einleitung in die Geisteswissenschaften. Versuch einer Grundlegung für das Studium der Gesellschaft und ihrer Geschichte Lesefreundlicher Großdruck in 16-pt-Schrift Großformat, 210 x 297 mm Berliner Ausgabe, 2020 Durchgesehener Neusatz mit einer Biographie des Autors bearbeitet und eingerichtet von Theodor Borken Erstdruck: Leipzig (Duncker & Humblot) 1883. Textgrundlage ist die Ausgabe: Wilhelm Dilthey: Gesammelte Schriften. Herausgegeben von Bernhard Groethuysen u. a., Leipzig u. a.: B. G. Teubner u. a., 1914 ff. Umschlaggestaltung von Thomas Schultz-Overhage. Gesetzt aus der Minion Pro, (...) 16 pt. Henricus Edition Deutsche Klassik UG (haftungsbeschränkt). (shrink)

The philosopher and historian of culture Wilhelm Dilthey (1833-1911) has had a significant and continuing influence on twentieth-century Continental philosophy and in a broad range of scholarly disciplines. This volume is the third to be published in Princeton University Press's projected six-volume series of his most important works. Part One makes available three of his works on hermeneutics and its history: "Schleiermacher's Hermeneutical System in Relation to Earlier Protestant Hermeneutics" (The Prize Essay of 1860); "On Understanding and Hermeneutics" (1867-68), based (...) on student lecture notes, and the "The Rise of Hermeneutics" (1900), which traces the history of hermeneutics back to Hellenistic Greece. All the addenda to this well-known essay are translated here, some for the first time. In them Dilthey articulates three philosophical aporias concerning hermeneutics and projects an ultimate convergence between understanding and explanation. Part Two provides translations of review essays by Dilthey on Buckle's use of statistical history and on Burckhardt's cultural history; an essay "Friedrich Schlosser and the Problem of Universal History;" and a talk recalling his early years as a student of Boeckh, Jakob Grimm, Mommsen, Ranke, and Ritter. It also contains the important historical essay "The Eighteenth Century and the Historical World," in which Dilthey reexamines the Enlightenment to show its significant contributions to the rise of historical consciousness. (shrink)

This book is a pioneering effort to elaborate a general theory of the human sciences, especially history, and to distinguish these sciences radically from the ...