HERMENEUTICAL

PHENOMENOLOGY
JOSE RAMON E. DE LEON, Prof. 3
Bicol University College of Social
Sciences and Philosophy
HERMENEUTICAL PHENOMENOLOGY
• Hermes- messenger of the gods

• Hermeneutics- a theory, methodology and

praxis of interpretation that is geared towards
the recapturing of meaning of a text, or a text-
analogue, that is temporarily or culturally
distant, or obscured by ideology and false
consciousness.
• Phenomenon (a) – is a thing (a quality, a
relation, a state of afairs, an event, etc.) as it
appears to us, as it is perceived

• Phenomena, appearances data, etc. are

contrasted with the way things really are.
 Appearance = or ≠ Reality
Fundamental problem of philosophy:

How can we have knowledge of the way

things really are?
Phenomenology
- is the study of “phenomena”:
appearances of things, or things as
they appear in our experience, or the
ways we experience things, thus the
meanings things have in our
experience
• Hermeneutics- interpretation

• Phenomenology – interpretation of things as

they appear in our experience
Two faces of phenomenology
1. Husserlian Phenomenology

2. Heideggerian Phenomenology

• Existential phenomenology
• Hermeneutical phenomenology
Husserlian Phenomenology
Goal: to discover knowledge of the highest
kind
1. Absolute certain (free from any possible
doubt)
2. Completely objective (free from biases)

Method: Phenomenological Reduction or Bracketing

Here, we suspend or bracket judgements about
the world as we naturally understand it (the world as
seen in the natural standpoint)
3 Stages of Bracketing
1. Psychological Reduction- purifies the
objects of consciousness by suspending (or
bracketing) our pre-philosophical or
commonsensical beliefs about these objects
2. Transcendental Reduction- purifies the
subject of consciousness by suspending (or
bracketing) our pre-philosophical or common
sense beliefs about this subject (personality,
historical identity)
3 Stages of Bracketing
3. Eidetic Reduction- further carries out the
reduction in psychological and transcendental
reductions until one arrives at the point where
there is direct knowledge or intuition (direct
seeing) of the essenses
Husserl’s Phenomenology as
Hermeneutic Theory

Interpretation should start with a methodic

isolation of a given text from all extraneous things
(such as the interpreter’s biases and
presumptions) in order to allow the text to
communicate its meaning to the interpreter. The
meaning of the text should not be contaminated
by the biases/ prejudices of the interpreter’s mind.
Heideggerian Phenomenology
Contrary to Husserl, he proposed that the
interpreter has a mind and being that are totally
immersed in his/ her life-world- such that
understanding and interpretation would always
proceed from the point of view of this life world
(includes his biases, prejudices, presuppositions)
Instead of scrapping (or bracketing) the biases
and presuppositions, the interpreter could make
better use of them by using them as the starting
point in understanding a given text.
Hermeneutical Phenomenology
Gadamer replaced the Heideggerian notion of
biases and presuppositions with his idea of a
Horizon.

Horizon - the subjective and experiential life-

world that is constituted by the biases,
experiences, knowledge and emotions, of any
given person.
- it is our premise to any interaction,
conversation, and understanding
What happens during an interaction
of 2 different horizons?

During a dialogue or a conversation, or

interaction, the two person’s different horizons
interact with each other and modify each other.

Fusion of horizons- mutual modification of

horizons
• Hermeneutic Phenomenology is a
qualitative research methodology that a
rose out of and remains closely tied to
phenomenological philosophy.

• Purpose: Research is to bring to light and

reflect upon the lived meaning of this basic
experience.