Hermeneutics

Philosophical hermeneutics is concerned with interpretation and understanding. For many centuries in Western thought, hermeneutics was confined to the science of the exegesis of religious texts, but it broadened with the nineteenth-century efforts to formulate a theory and method of interpretation. In the twentieth century, Martin Heidegger (1889–1976) and Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900–2002) developed the philosophy of hermeneutics to challenge metaphysical certainty, finding it a powerful ontological mode of being-in-the-world-with-others.

As a philosophy that emphasizes the role of history, language and provocation in all human understanding, Gadamer’s hermeneutics offers a philosophical underpinning to action research. He argues for the primacy of inquiry as an essential human trait and elucidates the elemental role of dialogue and iteration in inquiry. This entry outlines the origins and development of hermeneutics, focusing on Heidegger and most particularly Gadamer’s contribution to its development. It elaborates on four concepts central to a hermeneutic standpoint: (1) effective history, (2) prejudice, (3) provocation and (4) fusion of horizons. The part played by each of these concepts in action research is considered.