A3 Book section, Chapters in research books
Hermeneutics and the Ancient Philosophical Legacy: Hermeneia and Phronesis (2015)

Backman, J. (2015). Hermeneutics and the Ancient Philosophical Legacy: Hermeneia and Phronesis. In N. Keane, & C. Lawn (Eds.), The Blackwell Companion to Hermeneutics (pp. 22-33). Wiley-Blackwell. Blackwell Companions to Philosophy, 60. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118529812.ch2

JYU authors or editors

Publication details

All authors or editors: Backman, Jussi

Parent publication: The Blackwell Companion to Hermeneutics

Parent publication editors: Keane, Niall; Lawn, Chris

ISBN: 978-1-118-52963-8

Journal or series: Blackwell Companions to Philosophy

Publication year: 2015

Number in series: 60

Pages range: 22-33

Number of pages in the book: 640

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Place of Publication: Malden, MA

Publication country: United States

Publication language: English

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118529812.ch2

Publication open access: Not open

Publication channel open access: 

Additional information: Published Online: 23 OCT 2015. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Abstract

Hermeneutics as we understand it today is an essentially modern phenomenon. The chapter presents observations that illustrate some of the central ways in which the modern and late modern phenomena of philosophical hermeneutics relate to the ancient philosophical legacy. First, the roots of hermeneutics are traced to ancient views on linguistic, textual, and sacral interpretation. The chapter then looks at certain fundamentally unhermeneutic elements of the Platonic, Aristotelian, and Augustinian “logocentric” theory of meaning that philosophical hermeneutics and its heirs sought to call into question, reconsider, and deconstruct. Augustine's De doctrina christiana, can be regarded as an epitome and culmination of the ancient protohermeneutic heritage, theological as well as philological. Finally, Aristotle's practical philosophy, particularly the notion of phronesis, “practical insight”, is designated as an implicit ancient prototype of hermeneutic thinking, the reappropriation of which lay at the core of the Heideggerian and Gadamerian philosophical projects.

Keywords: hermeneutics; ancient philosophy; continental philosophy; interpretation (cognition); comprehension

Free keywords: history of philosophy; interpretation; understanding; Aristotle; Heidegger; Gadamer

Contributing organizations

Ministry reporting: Yes

Reporting Year: 2015

JUFO rating: 2