"hermeneutic circle." Term often used by philosophers in the (mainly continental) tradition running from Schleiermacher and Dilthey to Heidegger , Gadamer , and Ricœur Has to do with the inherent circularity of all understanding, or the fact that comprehension can only come about through a tacit foreknowledge that alerts us to salient features of the text which would otherwise escape notice.
Yet it is also the case that every text (and every reading of it) in some way manages to pass beyond the ‘horizon of intelligibility’ that makes up this background of foregone interpretative assumptions. The debate is joined between those (like Gadamer) who think of understanding in terms of a dialogue or ongoing cultural conversation, and those—Habermas among them —who wish to maintain a more independent role for the exercise of critical thought.
Prof. Christopher Norris
See also hermeneutics.
Bibliography
D. C. Hoy , The Critical Circle: Literature and History in Contemporary Hermeneutics (Berkeley, Calif., 1978 ).
How to cite this entry:
Prof. Christopher Norris "hermeneutic circle" The Oxford Companion to Philosophy. Oxford University Press 2005. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. 18 October 2011
