Abstract
Wilhelm Dilthey defines the specific nature of understanding utilizing two aspects: on the one hand, understanding is a comprehension of connections, typically regarding the relation between a whole and its parts. Understanding captures the meaning of something according to this relation: We understand an episode from its function within a story, a text from its words and sentences. On the other hand, understanding consists of understanding something as an expression. We understand cultural and historical facts as objectifications of individual and social life. The triad life-expression-understanding forms the structural framework of hermeneutics. Eventually, understanding implies self-understanding. Therefore autobiography, for Dilthey, is the paradigm of understanding.
