Hermeneutics and LIfe

HERMENEUTICS AND LIFE

Cl. Mario D’Couto SDB

            While I was doing both my bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in philosophy, one subject that I had to learn was ‘Hermeneutics.’ Hermeneutics, to put it very plainly is interpretation. As human beings, we are constantly trying to make sense of the lives that we live; we comprehend, synthesize and articulate the different experiences that we have been through, both in the present and in the past. It may apparently seem like the most trivial thing since this is something that each of us do every day. But believe me, this was and still is one of the major sciences in the study of philosophy.

            So why am I writing about a subject like hermeneutics, you may ask? As mentioned earlier, human as we are and given the gift of rationality that each of us possess, we are constantly trying to interpret and comprehend the events and experiences of our daily existence, so as to make sense of it. Given the fact that each of us is a rational being, this brings us to the problem of historicism. To put it briefly, the problem of historicism states that in as much as each of us is trying to interpret history or the various events of life, each of us is bound by our own background and world – view. We are all contextual beings where each of us belongs to a particular time, culture, tradition and so on. All these put together influence our thinking pattern. In the context of philosophy, many philosophers were trying to understand what truth is or how does one arrive at an authentic understanding of truth where one could say, ‘truth is ……’? But somehow it couldn’t happen and in the bargain, the end result was a conflict in views. It was in a person like Bernard Lonergan who proposed‘openness to dialogue’ as the solution. None of us can say ‘truth is ….’ since authentic truth is unending. We may have a glimpse of the truth through the various discussions we have but we may never arrive at a point where we can say that truth has to be “…. this and this” and nothing else.

            You may probably be wondering what hermeneutics has got to do with life. Is it some kind of intellectual gymnastics? Not at all! We may not be on the path to reach some ‘intellectual’ truth, if I could put it that way. But the truth of the matter of hermeneutics which can be applied to life is that we are called to be ‘open.’


            Openness facilitates understanding and prevents sour words and heated arguments. It is this particular quality that also helps in building relationships and I guess this is something, that each of us can and should value as a contribution of hermeneutics to life.  

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