Hermeneutics and natural science

Dagfinn Føllesdal

pp. 293-298

in: Olga Kiss (ed), Hermeneutics and science, Berlin, Springer, 1999

Abstract

Hermeneutics is often defined as the study of what is meaningful. The meaningful is normally taken to include not only what is written and spoken, but also actions and various human activities, possibly also some animal activities. We shall get back to this characterization of the meaningful later. In addition, the study of man, as an originator of what is meaningful, is usually regarded as part of the subject matter of hermeneutics.