HERMENE

UTICS
HISTORIC
AL
HISTO
 RY
WHAT IS
TIME?
COSMOLOGICAL TIME
though it were successive
• •
Conception Time as a
number or a
of time as
local
movements

measure
Measure
• One hour

• Twenty years old

Number
• November 24, 2005

• 8 o ́clock
PSYCHOLOGICAL TIME

Conception of time not as

measurable local
movement but as
 a span of duration
experienced by a
conscious subject,
which endures in his
consciousness or memory

The emphasis is not

on the duration, but
on the conscious
subject who
experiences time as
a s of past,
synthesi
present, and future.
PSYCHOLOGICAL TIME
Psychological Time:
Melody
Cosmological
Time: NOTES
presented, and
reconstructed.
It is
It is about human
experiences
that are remembered,
re
not
just about dates,
persons, or
HISTORY
happenings.
-
.

HUMAN
EXPERIENCES AS
AND
RECONSTRUCTED

BY OUR PRESENT
MEMORY ED
RE PRESENT
- ED
REMEMBERED,
HISTORY
GIAMBATTISTA VICO

(1668 )
-
1744 )
1744
)
RE
MAKES PRESENT
IT REVISES (re
visioning) OR
RECONSTRUCTS
REMEMBERS OR
RECALLS.
-
PRESENTS OR
When it
-
MEMORY
CREATIVE FACULTY
IMAGINATION
OR FANTASY
DATA STORAGE
OR INGENUITY
Functions as

“VICO WAS ALMOST CERTAINLY

THE FIRST TO FORMULATE A
COMPLETELY NEW IDEA OF
TRUTH AND KNOWLEDGE AND
WHO, IN A PIECE OF BOLD
ANTICIPATION, COINED IN AN
ABSOLUTELY INIMITABLE
PRECISION THE TYPICAL
FORMULA OF THE MODERN
ATTITUDE TOWARDS TRUTH AND
REALITY.”

Pope Benedict XVI

Introduction to Christianity, Ignatius Press,
1990

that he fully developed his

notion of truth.
He reformulated it thus:
VERUM ET FACTUM
CONVERTUNTUR.
Truth is what we ourselves
have made.
Truth and Fact are convertible.
Scienza Nuova
It was in his book

(1725/1730/1744/1928)
became, alongside with
mathematics, the only
about being in the abstract, but
being as we
•
metaphysical construct but our
world which
have made it. History is a
fundamental pre
•
History, previously despised as
unscientific,
The task of the human mind is not
to think
requisite for7 the study of any
discipline.
Implications of Vico
•
The factual world is not an
abstract
we have constructed in history.
Notion of Truth
true science.
’
s
-
•
combination of the primacy of
mathematics
metaphysical construct but our
world which
Thus, Vico
birth to the scientific method
which is a
Implication of Vico
•
The factual world is not an
abstract
we have constructed in history.
Notion of Truth
and observable facts.
’
s notion of truth eventually gave
’
s
merely interpreted the world in
various ways; it
classical statement:
arena for man
is now time to change it
•
Implications of Vico
Karl Marx (1818
Notion of Truth
not just a factum of history.
VICO: MARX: VERUM VERUM EST
EST FACIENDUM
FACTUM
’
s self
-
“
1883),
-
So far philosophers have
transcendence. Man is
”
saw in history the
with his famous
’
s

Factum Faciendum

WHAT WE MADE WHAT WE CAN MAKE

change the world. Truth must
impel us to
concerned with using this
knowledge to
For Karl Marx, we should be
concerned
not only with knowing truth as
being, or

act in order to create a better

world.
truth as a historical fact. We
must be
OBJECTIVITY IN
HISTORY?
IS THERE

According to this model,

there is
objectivity when what is in
the mind
conforms with reality.
The concept of objectivity
originated from the
supposition that the mind
is imitative, that it copies
objects outside it.

rei ad intellectum

TRUTH IS THE EXACT

CORRESPONDENCE
 BETWEEN THE MIND AND
REALITY.
Verum est
adequatio

1. The past is gone,

never
this way because of
the
cannot be thought of
in
Objectivity in history

following reasons:

to be repeated.
history as a it always
discipline,
critical method and
standards of
2. Although history
requires the

implies value judgment

or
conscientious regard for
the
creative reconstruction.
Why can we not totally
exclude value judgments
and creativity?

Because history is permeated

with meaningful human
relationships the
understanding of which
requires an element of
empathy and sympathy which
often resist strict
methodological procedures.
his tendency to be biased
or mistaken;
every historical document
or narrative
a)
distortion, or error may be
present in
b) a reasonable suspicion
that bias,
the historian’s heightened
sense of
Objectivity in history
that he studies.
:
HOW DO WE
UNDERSTAND

A cause implies necessary

connection. It tells us that
whenever the antecedent
occurs, the consequent
follows.
CAUSALITY IN
HISTORY?
CAUSALITY IN
HISTORY
Historical narratives are expected
to establish the relation of cause
and effect in their explanation.

These narratives show that past

events, conditions, and processes
are consequences of prior
conditions.

In such narratives, causality is

seen as the
chance and conscious
determination; the
interplay of freedom and
necessity; of

human and divine factor.

HERODOTUS(484-425 B.C.)

The events of history are

caused by the confrontation
between the man who
recognizes his limits and the
man who is carried away by
hubris (PRIDE). Man vs. Man
vs. Gods
“Whom the gods wish to
destroy...”
THUCYDIDES(456-396 B.C.)

He wrote the history of the

Peloponnesian wars. For him,
history is the interplay of
conflicts of interest, in which
the stronger always imposes
his law as the right. Might is
right.
POLYBIUS(201-120 B.C.)
Wrote the first history of
Rome. History is the interplay
of personal and impersonal
causes (climate, geography,
etc.). He demonstrated for the
first time how the destinies of
various nations are
interwoven.
and
SALLUST and
117 A.D.)
and
(86 B.C.
and
(86 B.C.
– and
– TACITUS
–
34 B.C.) TACITUS
34 B.C.)
34 B.C.) TACITUS
34 B.C.)
TACITUS
 (55 A.D.
TACITUS -
TACITUS -
-
(55 A.D.
-
(55 A.D.
-
(55 A.D.
-
(55 A.D.
-
(55 A.D.
-
(55 A.D.

Roman historians and

politicians.

History, for them, follows the

natural cycle of flowering and
fading, birth and death, growth
and corruption.

Fate, being the main cause of

historical events, brings about
the senseless recurrence of rise
and fall.
SALLUST
▪ THE HIGHER YOUR
STATION IN LIFE, THE
LESS YOUR LIBERTY.
▪

TO SOMEONE SEEKING
▪ POWER, THE POOREST
EVERY MAN IS THE MAN IS THE
ARCHITECT OF HIS
OWN FORTUNE.
MOST USEFUL.

TACITUS
I AM MY NEAREST NEIGHBOR.

SALVATION HISTORY
History is the story of God’s
initiative to enter into a
covenant. The successes and
reversals of history are phases
of this covenant.

Grace, sin, punishment,

forgiveness, fidelity and Divine
Providence are the categories
in which history is understood.
ST. AUGUSTINE
Added a personalistic and
subjective element in his
understanding of history, in
such a way that the conversion
of the individual, cuts right
across the historical events in
the world.

All history is biography.

ENLIGHTENMENT
changed our view of history.

taken the place of

Providence.
Reason and Progress have
HUMANISM, and later, the
RENAISSANCE and
SECULARISM (the
hermeneutical framework
which considers the world
as self- explanatory.

transcendent values
We can understand
history without any
recourse to

or being.
CONSUMERISM – the
ideology of buy and sell
with emphasis on
instantaneity and
disposability.
Adverse consequences:

a)“throw-away mentality”

b) our monumental garbage

problem,

c) our tendency to discard

traditional
norms, lifestyles, stable
relationships and attachments.

d) trivialization of values
KARL MARX

History is the process by

which human freedom leads to
self and social consciousness.
This process is realized in the
human struggle against nature
and social inequalities.

Knowledge of history becomes

a tool for this struggle.
CAUSALITY IN
HISTORY

There is a loose conception of

causality in history. Rather
than focusing on one basic
cause generating an event, it is
more appropriate to say that,
in history, there is “causal
pluralism” where each cause
need not exclude the others.
The LOGIC of Historical
Thought
• not a formal logic of
deductive inference.

• consists neither in
inductive reasoning from the
particular to the general, nor
in deductive reasoning from
the general to particular.
The LOGIC of Historical
Thought
• a process of
adductive reasoning in the
simple sense of adducing
answers to specific
questions, so that a
satisfactory “fit” is obtained.
• the answers maybe general
or particular, as the
questions may require.

something cause
actually
is the
cause
is the something
is Adduction
the most suggests
likely that
something
must
be the
cause
be the
cause
why something
happened;
why something
happened;

cause why something

Deduction proves that

Induction shows that

happened.
HISTORY

• a problem-solving
discipline.

• asks an open-minded
question about past events
and answers with selected
facts which are constructed
in the form of an
hermeneutical paradigm.
HERMENEUT
ICS

“
liar, and a
Hermes is a deceiver.
thief, a ”
Socrates
The inventor of
language; the
messenger of the gods
the son of
PAN the son of
–
Hermes, is divine
above and goat like
- like
below to signify the
ambivalence of
language, the duplicity
of words.

The messages of the

gods were often
oracular and
ambiguous.

mental experiences which these

words directly

those things of which our

experiences are the
symbols of spoken words. Just as all
men do
not have the same writing, so all men
do not

symbolize, are the same for all, as

also are
“ words are the
Spoken words PERI
are the symbols
of mental HERMEN
EIAS by
Aristotle
have the same
speech sounds,
but the
experiences,
and written
images. ”
-
-
-
-
CAN BE ORAL, WRITTEN, AURAL,
VISUAL,
AUDIOVISUAL,
SYMBOLIC/SIGNIFIED, OR
INCARNATE
ON THE CONTEXT
REVEALS AND CONCEALS AT
THE SAME TIME
CAN HAVE VARIED MEANINGS,
WHICH DEPENDS
.
IS INDISPENSABLE TO
COMMUNICATION

Language

MEANINGS WHEN
CONSIDERED
WORDS CAN HAVE
VARIOUS

OUTSIDE OF THEIR USE

IN A
DETERMINED CONTEXT
POLYSEMY
noun:
Any activity involved in
making the obscure plain,
and bringing the unclear
to clarity

hermeneia
Hermeneutic
s
to clarify .
hermeneuein
verb:
to interpret or

HERMENEUT
ICS
TO
UNDERSTANDIN
G
UNINTELLIGIBILI
TY
SOMETHING
FROM
THE PROCESS
OF
BRINGING
UNDERSTANDIN
G – a uniquely
human activity that
deals primarily not
with information but
with that elusive
category called
MEANING
RELEVANT
VALUABLE

APPROPRIABLE
PRESENT OR
ULTIMATE
IT IS RELATED
TO MY
RELEVANT
CONCERN

SOMETHING/SO
MEONE

VALUE I
APPRECIATE
WHOSE
WORTH OR
VALUABLE

I CAN OWN
IT
APPROPRIABL
E
THE PROCESS OF
UNDERSTANDING IS NOT

RECAPITULATION AND
REASSESSMENT OF
UNDERSTANDING CONSISTS IN
ENDLESS
IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND THE
WHOLE, IT IS
IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND THE
PARTS, IT IS
THE HERMENEUTIC
CIRCLE

NECESSARY TO UNDERSTAND THE

WHOLE

NECESSARY TO UNDERSTAND THE

PARTS
LINEAR BUT CIRCULAR AND
SPIRAL.

PREVIOUS MEANINGS
his life and times, and by situating his
ideas within
context; the word to the sentence, the
sentence to
the paragraph, the paragraph to the
whole page of

which he belongs and the tradition

which shapes
situated within the context of the
community to
- author is
AUTHOR: an understood in
relation to -
-
THE
HERMENE
UTIC
CIRCLE

READER: his way

of understanding
must be
TEXT: a text is
understood in
relation to its
OPERATES IN
DIFFERENT
LEVELS:
the understanding of his community.
the context of the history of ideas
ideas, the page to the entire book

UNDERSTANDING THE TEXT

UNDERSTAN
DING
UNDERSTANDING THE AUTHOR

SELF NG
- UNDERSTANDI
UNDERSTANDI NG
THE QUEST FOR
UNDERSTANDING
LEADS US

Misunderstandi Understanding
ng
Disagreement Agreement

Confusion Certainty

Indifference Commitment
FROM
TO
language
as
A. language
1
the gods.
.
Hermen A
proclamation
eia of the
as messages of
A of the
proclamation messages of

2. A recitation or artistic
elocution
of Homeric poems

LANGUAGE ITSELF IS
ALREADY
Evolution of the Usage
INTERPRETATION.
cultural or temporal context to

another. Hermeneia -

language into the clarity of a

known or
familiar language.
B.
to another (infinitive:

Hermeneia
translatio
-
the movement of meaning from
one
Evolution of the Usage
–
(latin) movement from one place
bringing an obscure, foreign
as translation
transferre
)

C. comment
Hermen ary
as
eia comment
as
ary
understanding through a
fusion of temporal
synonymous –
with clarificatory
EXEGESIS clarificatory
– clarificatory
or exploratory explanation
about an
obscure utterance or text.

’
Hermen ’
eia -
s
s
broadening of s
one
Evolution of the Usage

and cultural horizons

regulated by a chain of signifiers
with the hope that
C. production
Hermenei and
as
a
production
as
and
retrieval of meaning

not decoding a
Hermene prior meaning
ia -
that
meaning will emerge through the
opposition of
- continuity of
Refusal to meaning
assume the
and the primacy of the subject
who decodes a
text

must be reconstructed, but letting

oneself be
Evolution of the Usage
these signifiers

SELECTION SYNTHETIC
ECSTATIC INTERCONNECTION
REFINEMENT/ INTERCONNECTION
REFINEMENT/
ACTUAL EVIDENCE/
AUTHENTIC SOURCES
AUTHENTIC SOURCES RE
AUTHENTIC SOURCES RE
-
-
-
INVESTIGATION
VISION
VISION
VISION
VISION
RECONSTRUCTION
HERMENEUTICAL
ANALYTIC
HERMENEUTICAL
HERMENEUTICAL
HERMENEUTICAL RESEARCH
HERMENEUTICAL HEURISTIC
PARADIGM MOMENT
PARADIGM TASK AT HAND
PARADIGM TASK AT HAND
PARADIGM
PARADIGM DISCOVERY
MATRIX OF DISCOVERY
MATRIX OF DATA/QUESTION
MATRIX OF DATA/QUESTION
INTERPRETATION DATA/QUESTION
INTERPRETATION RESULT
INTERPRETATION RESULT
PROCEDURE RESULT

HISTORICAL
HERMENEUTICS
METHOD
CRITICISM EUREKA
PERSPECTIVE
EUREKA
EUREKA

?
PROCEDURE
MOMENT
TASK AT HAND
TASK AT HAND
RESULT
RESULT

?
RESULT

RE

?
-
SEARCH
SEARCH
‘
‘
‘
EUREKA
 RESEARCH

?
HEURISTIC
DISCOVERY
DISCOVERY
DATA/QUESTION
DATA/QUESTION
DATA/QUESTION

?
HISTORICAL
HERMENEUTICS
I FOUND IT! TO UNCOVER
METHOD

TO SEE SOMETHING/

SELECTION ACTUAL EVIDENCE/

ECSTATIC AUTHENTIC SOURCES
REFINEMENT/ AUTHENTIC SOURCES
REFINEMENT/ AUTHENTIC SOURCES
PROCEDURE IS IT RELEVANT
MOMENT
TO THE
TASK AT HAND
TASK AT HAND QUESTION I
RESULT ASKED?
RESULT
IS IT AUTHENTIC?
RESULT

HISTORICAL
HERMENEUTICS

ec = to stand aside
stasis - METHOD
= to stand aside
CRITICISM PERSPECTIVE

DOES THE EVIDENCE

REFINE MY QUESTION?

EXAMINATION OF SELECTED
INVESTIGATION
THE EVIDENCES
VALID/ACCURATE/LO INTERPRETATION
GIGAL? INTERPRETATION
RE INTERPRETATION
- PROCEDURE
- MOMENT
VISION TASK AT HAND
VISION TASK AT HAND
VISION RESULT
MATRIX OF RESULT
INTERPRETATION RESULT

HISTORICAL
HERMENEUTICS
LOOKING AT THE PARTS
ANALYTIC

IS MY WAY OF LOOKING AT
THE EVIDENCES
METHOD

INSIGHTS/CONTEXTS,
MEANINGS
RECONSTRUCTION ARRANGING THE
INTERCONNECTION EVIDENCES AS
HERMENEUTICAL INTERPRETED TO ANSWER
HERMENEUTICAL THE ORIGINAL QUESTION
PROCEDURE POSED
MOMENT ACTUAL
TASK AT HAND
COMPOSITION OF
TASK AT HAND
RESULT MY
RESULT OWN TEXT
RESULT

HISTORICAL
HERMENEUTICS
PUTTING BACK THE PARTS
INTO A WHOLE
SYNTHETIC
METHOD

PARADIGM

OPUS MAGNUM
∎ ∎
∎ AN
ANALOGICAL
MODEL
A ∎
COMBINATIO PREDICTIVE
N OF THE MODEL
ABOVE ∎

STATISTICAL CAUSAL
GENERALIZA MODEL
TION
HERMENEUTICAL
∎
A
NARRATIVE
PARADIG
M