Volume 03 Issue 02-2023
121
American Journal Of Social Sciences And Humanity Research
(ISSN
–
2771-2141)
VOLUME
03
I
SSUE
02
Pages:
121-126
SJIF
I
MPACT
FACTOR
(2021:
5.
993
)
(2022:
6.
015
)
(2023:
7.
164
)
OCLC
–
1121105677
Publisher:
Oscar Publishing Services
Servi
ABSTRACT
The article seeks to reveal the philosophical-methodological aspects of the phenomenon of understanding as a
fundamental category of philosophical hermeneutics. Various approaches to the phenomenon of understanding as a
unique form of intelligibility oriented towards inclusive understanding and making sense of the reality in its various
forms.
KEYWORDS
Understanding, philosophical hermeneutics, philosophy, intelligibility, cognition, comprehension.
INTRODUCTION
At present, the problem of understanding with a thin
and invisible thread permeates the entire history and
space
of
philosophical
thought,
striving
to
comprehend the inaccessible, but excessively enticing
ideal of human cognition - absolute truth, hidden in the
abyss of a fading, but stable sum of irrational
anthropological
images.
The
problem
of
understanding, which widens the gap between the
subject and object of cognition, is reflected in the most
hopeless and pessimistic concepts of epistemological
discourse, anticipating a rethinking of the position of
the role of agnosticism, skepticism, relativism,
phenomenalism,
subjective
idealism,
solipsism,
intuitionism and others. The growing chaos, observed
within the framework of the crisis of the classical
(corresponding) theory of truth, has led to the total
Research Article
PROBLEM OF UNDERSTANDING IN THE HISTORY OF THE TRADITION
OF PHILOSOPHICAL HERMENEUTICS
Submission Date:
February 18, 2023,
Accepted Date:
February 23, 2023,
Published Date:
February 28, 2023
Crossref doi:
https://doi.org/10.37547/ajsshr/Volume03Issue02-22
Tyukmaeva Aida Maratovna
Researcher And Lecturer At The Department Of Philosophy And Fundamentals Of Spirituality, National
University Of Uzbekistan
Journal
Website:
https://theusajournals.
com/index.php/ajsshr
Copyright:
Original
content from this work
may be used under the
terms of the creative
commons
attributes
4.0 licence.
Volume 03 Issue 02-2023
122
American Journal Of Social Sciences And Humanity Research
(ISSN
–
2771-2141)
VOLUME
03
I
SSUE
02
Pages:
121-126
SJIF
I
MPACT
FACTOR
(2021:
5.
993
)
(2022:
6.
015
)
(2023:
7.
164
)
OCLC
–
1121105677
Publisher:
Oscar Publishing Services
Servi
collapse of the former samples of the classical type of
scientific rationality, creating the ground for the
emergence of alternative theories, the content of
which turns into ruins the old beliefs about what is the
direct criterion for its rational definition. An insoluble
dilemma arises before researchers of various scientific
directions regarding the choice of a reliable trajectory
of knowledge that provides an understanding of the
deep patterns that underlie the entire world order. In
this regard, the problem of understanding the role of
immanent conscious structures, incorporated into
cognitive mechanisms like pre-set settings, the
determining factors of which are the means of forming
and expressing the entire wealth of the mental
conglomerate, which is initially in an amorphous,
primordial and chaotic state, is actualized. Analysis of
the presented problems,
Today, the problem of understanding is of interest in
the studies of various social sciences and the
humanities: philosophy, hermeneutics, linguistics,
history, jurisprudence, art criticism and others,
acquiring particular importance in the context of the
growth of various philosophical, political, economic,
social and cultural problems that require rethinking
and a reliable understanding of the dangers and
threats facing humanity.
Philosophical understanding and analysis of the
problem of understanding is contained in the works of
F. Schleiermacher, G. G. Gadamer, P. Ricoeur, E.
Husserl, V. Dilthey, J. Derrida, E. Betty, G.G. Shpet, M.
Landman, D. Pellauer, E. Tilson.
The content of the research presented by the
philosophers is aimed at substantiating the
fundamental role in the study of the phenomenon of
understanding as a cognitive procedure, focused on
comprehending the semantic basis contained in the
subject of knowledge - meaning.
One of the most controversial and sharp-edged topics
of modern philosophy and hermeneutics is the
problem of understanding, which is a heavy stumbling
block
that
distances
the
researcher
from
comprehending and reliably interpreting the meaning
of the subject being studied. There are a huge number
of definitions that define the meaning of the concept
of "understanding" through the prism of analysis of
various research optics: philosophy, psychology,
theology, pedagogy, linguistics, cultural studies and
law. However, the most complete meaning of the
concept of "understanding" lies in the content of
philosophical definitions that reveal the universal
components of the categories under consideration.
According to the definition of the Newest
Philosophical
Dictionary,
understanding
is
“a
procedure for comprehending or generating meaning
that does not fit into the subject-object cognitive
scheme, since it is not knowledge that generates the
need for understanding, but, on the contrary, the need
Volume 03 Issue 02-2023
123
American Journal Of Social Sciences And Humanity Research
(ISSN
–
2771-2141)
VOLUME
03
I
SSUE
02
Pages:
121-126
SJIF
I
MPACT
FACTOR
(2021:
5.
993
)
(2022:
6.
015
)
(2023:
7.
164
)
OCLC
–
1121105677
Publisher:
Oscar Publishing Services
Servi
for understanding leads to knowledge. [Gritsanov A.A.
2003: p. 2727]
Thus, the essence of understanding is revealed as a
certain cognitive procedure, the main purpose of
which is the desire to clarify and reconstruct the
original semantic core of the subject of study. It is
necessary to emphasize that the disclosure of the
content of the concept of understanding is inextricably
linked with the activity of the mind, and can also be
considered from the standpoint of existential - the
main mode of being, which allows us to see the
conditions for the possibility of existence. [A. P.
Ogurtsov. V. L. Abushenko. V. L. Bernshtein. F. N.
Goldberg. 2022: p. 1-2] Since the desire to understand
the essence of the phenomena of reality is one of the
goals of cognition, the nature of the application of the
appropriate methodology, which allows achieving the
ideal of reliability in relation to the subject under study,
is of great importance.
Understanding, being the subject of philosophical
hermeneutics, cannot be considered in the context of
a certain set of practical skills and algorithms that
contain methodological guidance for isolating and
interpreting the meanings and meanings contained in
the narrative. The procedure of understanding, based
on the property of intelligibility, has a subtle and
unstable nature of comprehending the semantic
aspects of the content, the conscious grasp of which
manifests itself in the form of mental-irrational
comprehension. The idea of the infinity of
interpretations, derived from the principle of the
hermeneutic circle, which has the property of
progressive expansion in the process of interpretation
from pre-understanding to its conditions, dooms the
cognitive procedure of understanding to a state of
permanent incompleteness. The continuum nature of
understanding, characterized by the absence of an
ultimate
epistemological
finish,
discredits
understanding as a category, anticipating relativistic
intentions in relation to cognition as such. In this
regard, the question of the possibility of understanding
in the context of its objectivity and congruence of the
initial set of narratives, united in order to convey the
sense reflected and extrapolated into a test or speech,
is of particular relevance.
The problematization of the phenomenon of
understanding and the derivation of this category into
an independent field of philosophical hermeneutics
dates back to the 19th century as part of the
elimination of the system of subject-object relations
due to the requirements of the need for subjective
involvement. For F. Schleiermacher, understanding -
"subtilitas intelligendi" is impossible if the hermeneutic
and the creator of the text do not have mental points
of contact - "deviation" - the ability to get used to the
inner world of the author, as well as the ability to
compare one text with a combination of others.
[Schleiermacher F. 2004: p. 42]
Volume 03 Issue 02-2023
124
American Journal Of Social Sciences And Humanity Research
(ISSN
–
2771-2141)
VOLUME
03
I
SSUE
02
Pages:
121-126
SJIF
I
MPACT
FACTOR
(2021:
5.
993
)
(2022:
6.
015
)
(2023:
7.
164
)
OCLC
–
1121105677
Publisher:
Oscar Publishing Services
Servi
The founder of philosophical hermeneutics, H. G.
Gadamer, believes that understanding is associated
with a preliminary outline of meaning and is the goal-
setting epistemological basis of philosophy and
science of the 20th century, as well as the ontological
condition of human existence. Since understanding is
preceded by “pre
-
understanding”, based on the
principle of historical determinism, namely the
ontogenetic finiteness of human existence, the
process of understanding cannot be considered
exclusively
within
the
framework
of
the
epistemological orientation of the cognizer, since the
criteria and conditions for understanding are
incorporated in advance into a certain historical and
cultural matrix. Gadamer pays great attention to the
prerequisites of understanding - prejudices, opposing
their meaning to the classical revivalist paradigm,
where their main meaning is presented in a destructive
aspect, as certain a priori judgments that prevent a
reliable understanding of the essence. [G. Gadamer.
1988: c. 38] In contrast to the classical interpretation of
prejudices, G. Gadamer considers them in the context
of the role of preliminary reasoning that underlies the
process of understanding, thereby setting a certain
hermeneutical
orientation
that
promotes
understanding.
In contrast to the position of G. Gadamer, the
philosophical views of M. Heidegger regarding the
specifics of the phenomenon of understanding are
revealed in the philosopher's attempt to abstract the
process of understanding from an epistemological
orientation into an ontological one. Understanding, for
Heidegger, is the comprehension of the being of the
Presence - "existence", potentially striving towards an
attempt to comprehend the ontological foundation of
human existence. Existence is thus coordinated with
the category
Presence, which is revealed in the formulation of the
goal -
“for the sake of what”, which is the main setting
of understanding as such, determined by the desire to
overcome the discreteness of being. Summarizing the
philosophical orientation of Schleiermacher, Gadamer
and Heidegger, who explore the problem of
understanding through the prism of diametric research
optics, it is necessary to state the idea that unites the
presented alternative approaches, which consists in
recognizing the unattainability of the finality of not
only the process of interpretation, but also
understanding as such. The dynamics of external and
internal metamorphoses - the conditions of
interpretation contributes to the generation of
completely new circumstances under which an
attempt to create stable structures of understanding
turns out to be unattainable.
Unlike Heidegger, W. Dilthey connects the process of
understanding with a range of different approaches:
individual mental experience, consideration of
understanding through the prism of historicism, and
Volume 03 Issue 02-2023
125
American Journal Of Social Sciences And Humanity Research
(ISSN
–
2771-2141)
VOLUME
03
I
SSUE
02
Pages:
121-126
SJIF
I
MPACT
FACTOR
(2021:
5.
993
)
(2022:
6.
015
)
(2023:
7.
164
)
OCLC
–
1121105677
Publisher:
Oscar Publishing Services
Servi
analysis of understanding in the context of the concept
of creativity. Consideration of understanding through
the prism of individual mental experience refers to the
method of comprehending the semantic core of an
object within the framework of mental life in the
context of the subject's feelings, will and ideas, which
is opposed to the classical explanatory method in
psychology, which reduces aspects of human
perception into the sum of actualizing reflexes and
signals. [IN. Dilthey. 2001: p. 69] However, this
requirement is far from the only one
Since hermeneutics seeks to solve the problem of
understanding, having achieved the maximum
transparency of the existing sign-symbolic artifacts,
through
the
application
of
an
appropriate
methodology, a set of problems arising from this is
revealed, including the problem of language. No
wonder Heidegger insisted on stating the obvious
relationship between language and being, believing
that "language is the house of being", representing at
the same time a space for its storage and explication.
[M. Heidegger. 1993: p. 114] In this regard, according to
Heidegger, language is not a simple sum of lexical and
grammatical constructs that form a common semantic
basis for the subsequent interpretation procedure, but
is also presented as living speech, consisting of a huge
variety of intonational shades and silences. The
hermeneutic approach to the study and analysis of
such semantic inclusions is therefore not limited to the
exclusive use of classical philosophical methodology,
and can be considered in a wider layer of interpretive
approaches. Unlike his predecessor, Gadamer explores
the category of language from the standpoint of the
ontological basis for constructing reality, which
contains stable cognitive paradigms of possibilities [H.-
G. Gadamer. 1966: p. 187]. This approach is consistent
with the previous philosophical tradition of Heidegger,
who gave the language an ontological status, which is
both an existential matrix of existence, as well as a
structural epistemological formula for an adequate
comprehension of the world. It should be especially
emphasized
Summing up the results of understanding the problem
of understanding in the history of the philosophical
hermeneutic tradition, it is necessary to specify that
the presented problem is actualized only in the 20th
century as an independent and debatable one. The
previous experience of comprehension demonstrates
the contextuality and fragmentation of the study of
the problem of understanding as an integral part of
exegetical and disciplinary practices, the main subject
of which was focused on significantly different
research subjects. The emergence and development of
hermeneutics as a universal method of the humanities
made it possible to abstract the problem of
understanding from the research optics of exegesis,
jurisprudence, history and linguistics, presenting
understanding in the universal philosophical context of
Volume 03 Issue 02-2023
126
American Journal Of Social Sciences And Humanity Research
(ISSN
–
2771-2141)
VOLUME
03
I
SSUE
02
Pages:
121-126
SJIF
I
MPACT
FACTOR
(2021:
5.
993
)
(2022:
6.
015
)
(2023:
7.
164
)
OCLC
–
1121105677
Publisher:
Oscar Publishing Services
Servi
its categorization. Consideration of the theory and
practice of interpretation through the prism of
philosophical reflection,
Contrasting the phenomenon of understanding with
the procedure of interpretation, which includes the use
of universal methodological algorithms, allows us to
bring this phenomenon into a completely different
research area, not subject to rough reductionist
methods of interpretation. Philosophical hermeneutics
is guided by a similar development trajectory, rejecting
any logical-rationalistic claims about the need to find
stable methodological formulas for understanding and
interpretation in favor of irrationality, uncertainty,
subtlety and anthropomorphism of the studied
narratives. In this regard, it is appropriate to state the
development of philosophical hermeneutics within the
framework of the post-non-classical type of scientific
rationality, characterized by the strengthening of the
role of the synergistic and counter-reductionist
approach in the studies of the humanities spectrum.
Consideration of the phenomenon of understanding in
terms of "intelligibility", which should be understood
as the process of cognition, focused exclusively on the
field of using the reserves of intellectual intuition,
allows us to rethink and discredit the idea of
extrapolating the methods of natural sciences to the
field of the humanities. The intelligibility of
understanding emphasizes the unique specificity of the
methodology of the humanities, which allows the
involvement of alternative research procedures that
are diametrically opposed to the ideals of classical
science. The results obtained make it possible to state
the need for the revival and reassessment of the
philosophical tradition of A. Bergson, who postulates
the need to identify irrational prerequisites in
cognition.
REFERENCES
1.
A.A. Gritsanov. (2003) The latest philosophical
dictionary. - Minsk: Book House.
2.
P. Ogurtsov. V. L. Abushenko. V. L. Bernshtein. F. N.
Goldberg. (2022) Understanding / Humanitarian
Portal: Concepts (https://gtmarket.ru/concepts/).
3.
Schleiermacher F. (2004) Hermeneutics. - St.
Petersburg: European House.
4.
H.-G. Gadamer (1988) Truth and Method:
Fundamentals of Philosophy. hermeneutics. -
Moscow: Progress.
5.
Dilthey W. (2001) The Emergence of Hermeneutics.
// Hermeneutics and theory of literature. - Moscow.
6.
M. Heidegger (1993) Being and time / Works and
reflections of different years.
—
Moscow: Gnosis.
7.
H.-G. Gadamer (1966) Die Universalitat des
hermeneutischen Problems.
—
In: Philosophisches
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