Philosophy of Hermeneutics

Study Notes

Minor First Order Branches

Hermeneutics: the art of interpreting, originating from the Greek god Hermes who interprets the minds of the gods for people.
Hermeneutics is a method of understanding cultural and historical contexts of ideas, and involves understanding the component words or sentences of a text.
Key hermeneuticists include Georg Gadamer, Paul Ricoeur, and Jacques Derrida.
Hermeneutics is a circular process, where understanding the text requires understanding the component words or sentences, and vice versa.

Critical Theory

Critical Theory has a narrow and broad meaning in philosophy and social sciences.
In the narrow sense, it designates several generations of German philosophers and social theorists.
Critical Theory has influenced modern political debates, aiming to challenge conservative worldviews.

Darwinism

Darwinism is a distinctive form of evolutionary explanation for the history and diversity of life on earth.
Its original formulation is provided in the first edition of On the Origin of Species in 1859.
Key themes in Darwinism include probability and chance, the nature and power of selection, adaptation and teleology, and nominalism.

Rationalism and Empiricism

Rationalism: an epistemological school of thought that says knowledge is possible only through human reasoning.
Proponents of rationalism include Réné Descartes, Gottfried Leibniz, Baruch Spinoza, Plato, and Immanuel Kant.
Empiricism: an epistemological school of thought that counters rationalism, insisting that human knowledge is only possible through experience.
Proponents of empiricism include British philosopher Bertrand Russell.

Critical Thinking and Philosophy

Critical thinking involves reference to a wide range of skills, dispositions, and attitudes that characterize a virtue.
Philosophy helps develop critical thinking skills, moral sensitivity, and intellectual culture.
The possession of critical skills is insufficient to make one a critical thinker; one must also have an inward readiness to give weight to the other side and recognize that knowledge is subject to correction.

Ecstatic Experiences

Ecstatic experiences are experiences that put us into a state that is difficult to describe in words, often characterized by feelings of connection to something beyond oneself.
These experiences can be therapeutic, providing a sense of meaning and connection to the universe.
Ecstatic experiences have been important in bonding people and inspiring creativity throughout history.
In Western culture, there has been a shift towards marginalizing ecstatic experiences, viewing them as dangerous or shameful.
The 1960s saw a resurgence of ecstatic practices, and today, there is an attempt to integrate these experiences into mainstream culture, recognizing their value in human flourishing.

Description

This quiz explores the art of interpretation, also known as hermeneutics, its origin, and its application in law, theology, and literature, with references to notable philosophers such as Gadamer, Ricoeur, and Derrida.