The Status of Traditional Hermeneutics in Historical Epistemology

Document Type : علمی پژوهشی

Authors

• Sayyid Abulfaḍl Raḍavī
• Mahdī Ṣalāḥ

10.22067/philosophy.v43i2.11776

Abstract

Making a distinction between the two concepts of explanation (tabyīn) and interpretation (tafsīr) in the study of history, the present article examines the status of traditional hermeneutics in the formation and development of history as a science (history science). Explanation means a description of how and why a series of events take place in relation to the subject being studied in light of the past specific circumstances. Interpretation (tafsīr) means the entrance of the idea (the idea adopted from the present time) of a researcher who studies a specific subject so that after explanation, he would present a systematic analysis of it.
Traditional hermeneutics, with the emphasis it has on author-orientedness and text-orientedness and regarding authentic understanding to be subject to reviving and reproducing the
comprehension of the authors’ text, maintains in the field of historical knowledge that history researchers should, in line with recognition of the events related to the subject of their study, do their best to revive the recognition of the contemporary historians with the events taking place and to make their ideas the basis of their understanding. Thus, the traditional hermeneutics’ approach is applicable in the stage of explaining the historical subjects and helps the historians gain access to the authentic historical data, which greatly contribute to the development of history as a science.
Keywords: hermeneutics, traditional hermeneutics, history as a science, explanation, interpretation.

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