Abstract
Following Husserl’s analysis of lifeworld and Wittgenstein’s discussion of Frazer’s Golden Bough, this paper addresses the understanding of cultural practices. It proceeds on the assumption that the comprehension of cultural practices is grounded on a unique form of understanding and cannot be reduced to other types of understanding. Such a form of understanding relativizes the as-structure of classical hermeneutics to describe the pre-givenness and the commitment of cultural practices. A description that accomplishes this is called ‘performative hermeneutics’ in this article. It will here be shown that there is an understanding of commitments, a cultural or performative understanding, in which the as-structure does not play a primary role, but which becomes understandable only by canceling this structure.
