Hermeneutics of lived experience

the foundations of a historical psychology

Casey P. Boodt

Leendert Mos

pp. 111-122

in: Stam, Leendert Mos, Warren Thorngate, Bernie Kaplan (eds), Recent trends in theoretical psychology, Berlin, Springer, 1993

Abstract

In view of the demise of foundationalism, it is argued that an appropriate epistemology for psychology can be found in a hermeneutics of lived experience. In a recapitulation of Wilhelm Dilthey's (1833–1911) move towards establishing an interpretative methodology for the human sciences, it is affirmed that our lived experience can be understood in terms of the meaning of its expressions that constitute the social-cultural world of "mind". It is proposed that the structure and dynamics of psychic life reflects this objectification of "human nature" and, therefore, that psychology is an inherently historical endeavor.

Cited authors

Dilthey Wilhelm