Hermeneutics: Interpretation Theory… Visually Revealing the Whole and Parts of an Experience

PALMER, R.E. (1969) Hermeneutics: Interpretation Theory in Schleiermacher, Dilthey, Heidegger, and Gadamer. Evanston: Northwestern University Press.

“For the theory of interpretation, then, it makes a great difference whether thinking is conceived strictly in ideational terms, for then interpretation itself is dealing not with an unknown matter which has to be brought to light but with the clarification and evaluation of already known data. Then its task is not the primary ‘showing’ of the thing but that of achieving correctness among several possible interpretations. Such presuppositions tend to keep one always in clear light of what is already known instead of bridging the gap between light and darkness.” (p146)

Annotation:
In this context interpretation is framed within a phenomenological inquiry into visually revealing the whole and parts of an experience, bringing to light the meaning of actions within. It is not about interpreting what is already revealed in a new way. As Palmer puts it, “its task is not the primary ‘showing’ of the thing but that of achieving correctness among several possible interpretations” (p146).