Hermeneutikai

Hermeneutikai refers to the field of hermeneutics in languages that adapt the term to their own linguistic forms. Hermeneutics is the theory and methodology of interpretation, focusing on how meaning is produced, conveyed, and understood in texts, speech, art, and social practices. It examines the conditions under which understanding occurs and the role of language, history, and context in shaping interpretation.

Historically, hermeneutics traces its roots to ancient and biblical exegesis, but it matured as a general theory of understanding in the 19th and 20th centuries. Friedrich Schleiermacher emphasized language and authorial intention as central to interpretation, while Wilhelm Dilthey extended hermeneutics to the human sciences, arguing that historical understanding requires imaginative participation with the life contexts of others. In the 20th century, Hans-Georg Gadamer and Paul Ricoeur further developed the field. Gadamer stressed the fusion of horizons and the situated nature of understanding within tradition, whereas Ricoeur explored interpretation through narrative, metaphor, and the self-understanding of texts.

Core methods include the hermeneutic circle, which describes the iterative movement between parts and the whole to reach meaning, and the analysis of context, linguistic features, and preconceptions that shape interpretation. Hermeneutics is applied across disciplines, notably in theology, literature, law, philosophy, and the social sciences, where interpretation of texts, discourses, and cultural practices is central.

Critics point to subjectivity and potential relativism, arguing that interpretation cannot be fully objective. Proponents respond by highlighting systematic methods for transparent reasoning and the historical situatedness of understanding. See also hermeneutics, Gadamer, Ricoeur, Schleiermacher.