Traditionally, theory andthe practice of interpreting texts that has developed in historical and philological science since the 18th century (G. Meyer, H. Wolf, etc.). Then she began to acquire a more universal character. Friedrich Schleiermacher developed it as a general theory of interpretation, and Wilhelm Dilthey - as the foundation of knowledge of the humanities. However, if Schleiermacher insisted on traditional, grammatical-linguistic methods of interpretation, then for Dilthey, the hermeneutic method is, above all, the art of understanding.
In the twentieth century from the method of interpreting textshermeneutics has become a philosophy, mainly due to the phenomenology of Husserl and the works of Martin Heidegger. If Husserl considers the “life world” as the primary reality in cognition, not “spirit” or “matter”, then Heidegger, using the teachings of Husserl, began to assert that for history and culture such a vital world is, by and large, language. In his later works, Heidegger writes that language forms the purpose of being, that it is not we who speak the language, but rather, he speaks with our help. Continuing the tradition of Dilthey, Heidegger defined what philosophical hermeneutics is. This is the hermeneutics of language, since it contains something that can be understood as such, which, in turn, leads to "a breakthrough to true being, life and thinking."
All this determined the further development of sucha phenomenon like hermeneutics. The philosophy into which it was transformed, raised the question of how the process of understanding the world is possible, what place in this process is “the discovery of the truth of being.” This was brilliantly done by its lead representative, Hans-Georg Gadamer. Interpreting the history and being of a person, hermeneutics began to claim the place of philosophy explaining the meaning of life, art and history, encompassing the experience of an individual, society, and tradition, and a break with it. If for P. Ricoeur, the hermeneutic dialectic of explanation and understanding is the philosophical art of interpreting the world around us, for J. Habermas, the method of transforming society, for Gadamer, the most universal philosophy of modernity.
Самая известная работа Гадамера – «Истина и method ”- in its name it seems to hide the fundamental basis of what is hermeneutics. The philosophy of understanding set forth in this work proves a significant difference in interpretation between the natural and mathematical sciences, on the one hand, and the social and humanitarian sciences, on the other. Theoretical concepts of the natural and mathematical sciences are based on a formal methodology based on induction and deduction, hypotheses and verification, and the study of repetitive patterns. The humanities are focused on finding the truth, not focusing on methodology. And the truth is not a theory, it is a truth of life - the one where living people act.
Используя терминологию Хайдеггера, Гадамер дает the answer to the question of what is the humanities and what is their specificity. He plays a huge role the concept of tradition. For him, this is one of the forms of authority, because no one can know anything without the help of predecessors. But tradition cannot exist without language. It is transmitted through it. In addition, with the help of language they formulate the person’s experience, express and give it form. Cognition is also due to the presence of language. In the presentation of Gadamer, hermeneutics - the philosophy of understanding - proves that it is an inherent property of language. But its polysemy leads to the fact that the texts must be interpreted hermeneutically, in order to understand all their meanings.
В философии Гадамера существует еще одна, даже a more fundamental category than language is a game. It lies at the basis of the deep way of human existence and makes possible the process of cognition. In addition, language and understanding as such is also based on the game. After all, she, according to Gadamer, is not derived from the person, and does not contain an interest - it is independent and self-sufficient, as a “thing in itself”. The game is a real subject - it draws in the players, getting their incarnation. No wonder the game is called "exciting" - they really capture the participants.
This gameplay is aesthetic.contemplation of a work of art, reading a book, understanding of history. "Aesthetic experience, catharsis, historical research," emphasizes Gadamer, "promise a special pleasure, devoid of pragmatic interest."
It can be said that hermeneutics, philosophy andtheory of knowledge in the humanities, says that understanding, approaching the game, allows you to get closer to the truth. The experience of hermeneutics, like the experience of art and religion, is based in many cases on intellectual contemplation, on intuition. Hermeneutic art of understanding, guided by intuition, allows you to grasp the meaning of the text as such. Moreover, it takes into account not only what the author wanted to say, but also the context in which the text was created and what it carries. And this is possible thanks to such categories as common sense, personal experience, the discovery of internal logic through a kind of reincarnation, “dialogue” with the text. Such knowledge “from the inside” allows one to comprehend both the phenomenon of society and culture, and the problems of human existence.
