(Abstract)
This study approaches the matter of 'understanding' in contemporary hermeneutics and the hermeneutic principles and theological values of P. Ricoeur who extends the nature of hermeneutics from existentialism to phenomenology, text theory, ...
(Abstract)
This study approaches the matter of 'understanding' in contemporary hermeneutics and the hermeneutic principles and theological values of P. Ricoeur who extends the nature of hermeneutics from existentialism to phenomenology, text theory, symbolism, and even to the life of human beings.
The essential thing in hermeneutics is 'understanding (Verstehen). It was the task of general hermeneutics to find ways that how past events could be understood by us today, and to solve the question on understanding itself such as what the presupposition of understanding is.
In hermeneutics, 'understanding' itself belongs to something historical, contains historical features, has relation to historical tradition, and even is subordinated to history. This means that not only the ways of understanding but also the contents and characteristics of understanding objects change in the process of history.
F. E. D. Schleiermacher extended the traditional hermeneutics, which was limited within document-hermeneutics and hermeneutics, into general hermeneutics. W. Dilthey systemized Schleiermacher's ideas much more epistemologically and established the methodology of the science of mind based on hermeneutics. M. Heidegger put hermeneutics on the ontological base and H. G. Gadamer tried to retrieve the ontological base that Heidegger missed in his ideas through the effective-historical hermeneutics. But Gadamer kept away from the idea of methodology-epistemology and tried to emphasize the idea of truth-ontology. P. Ricoeur didn't consider truth and methodology implied in the reflection of Gadamer's hermeneutics in contrast, but he took it in reciprocal tension of relation and tried to explain the hermeneutics on ontology in terms of epistemology. It means understanding is both epistemological and ontological phenomenon. He also developed his theory of the text discourse as well as the theory of hermeneutics through putting the contradictive theories into a dialectical way of arbitration. Ricoeur, therefore, reached the hermeneutic epistemology by taking a long detour of 'language analysis' and 'text hermeneutics.' His aim was to arrive at self-understanding through analysing and understanding of the semantic analysis of languages. This Ricoeur's theory has provided some clues for study on 'productive functions of imagination' in literary works and the Bible, as well as it is important itself.
As Bultmann who said, "the matter of hermeneutics is that of understanding," Ricoeur himself understood the matter of hermeneutics lies in ontological understanding, that is existing while understanding. By now hermeneutics has been focused on the gap between the writers and readers and the ways to overcome the gap between them. So far. we have been thought we could clarify the truth of revelation through the hermeneutics and we could hold the truth in our hands. In terms of modern hermeneutics, however, it seems that the truth in the Bible is not in our hands, but in the category of understanding, reciprocal relation to the text, and ontological understanding of comprehensible human beings.
The chapter II of this dissertation treats of hermeneutic disputes on hermeneutics started since the early Christian age and examines what is the problem of modern theological hermeneutics, especially what is the limit of the ways to solve the gap between the Bible and people in understanding of the Bible text.
In the chapter III I surveyed the history of hermeneutics since the modern hermeneutics and searched for the various aspects of hermeneutics in treating analytic understanding through the major philosophers since Schleiermacher. Especially, M. Heidegger, who is the leader of ontological hermeneutics which became the touchstone of Ricoeur's hermeneutics, and Gadamer's theory of hermeneutic understanding are fully described.
Chapter IV treats of the background of Ricoeur's thought in the modern hermeneutic history and the process of adopting and developing the traditional hermeneutics. The change of Ricoeur's thought from phenomenology to ontological hermeneutics is explained, and his way to work out hermeneutic problems through the dialectic relation of phenomenology and hermeneutics is searched for. Also, Ricoeur's answers to the matter of understanding in theology are revealed through the text theory, belief and revelation, and symbol. Finally, it is described how Ricoeur's hermeneutic programs take human beings and what is the final destination of understanding.