Hermeneutics: An Introduction (DUH270)

Content

This course equips students with a methodological language for communicating their aims as humanistic researchers. By exploring the ‘science of interpretation’ known as hermeneutics, it provides insights into the origins, development and transformation of humanistic research methods and situates these changes within their shifting historical contexts. It considers the answers that different hermeneutic traditions have offered to problems of meaning, objectivity, subjectivity and distance, all while developing reflexivity and methodological awareness. A set of core readings introduces students to theological, rationalist, romantic, modern, postmodern and posthuman varieties of hermeneutics, and supplementary readings selected by students allow them to customise the course to the own research needs. Key themes include language and meaning, dialogue and conversation, text and translation, self and narrative, truth and relativism, history and historicity, politics and critique, dialogue and conversation, text and translation, being and metaphysics. Students gain familiarity with key hermeneutic thinkers and are challenged to consider the implications of longstanding methodological debates to their own doctoral projects.

Learning outcome

Knowledge

The student will gain knowledge of:

• The different varieties of hermeneutics and their methodological implications.
• The shifting historical contexts in which debates about method have played out.
• The ethical challenges inherent to the different varieties of hermeneutics, as well as their social and political consequences.

Skills

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Articulate their research methods by reference to the different varieties of hermeneutics.
• Expand upon and persuasively defend their methodological decisions.
• Critically evaluate the ethical, social and political consequences of adopting any one methodological approach, including their own.
• Engage in academic discourse regarding the nature, purposes and procedures of humanistic inquiry.

General competence 

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Reflect critically on methodological conventions found in different fields of the humanities
• Identify and evaluate intellectual, cultural, ethical and political presuppositions behind different methodological approaches in the humanities.

Required prerequisite knowledge

Exam

Coursework requirements

Active participation in lectures and seminars, at least 75% participation.

Course teacher(s)

Course coordinator:

Method of work

The course will be held as lectures and seminars with discussions. A detailed timetable will be made available to course participants in advance of the seminar. 

Open for

This course is for PhD candidates in the Faculty of Arts and Education and the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Stavanger. PhD candidates in programs at cooperating research institutions may also participate in the course.

This course provides students with a venue for reflecting on the different interpretive methods employed in the humanities. It surveys the origins, development and transformation of humanistic research methods and situates them within their shifting historical contexts. In particular, by examining the ‘art of interpretation’ known as hermeneutics, the course equips students with a methodological language for communicating their specific purposes as humanistic researchers. It considers the answers that different interpretive traditions have offered to problems of meaning, objectivity, subjectivity and distance, all while developing reflexivity and methodological awareness. A set of core readings introduces students to theological, rationalist, romantic, modern, postmodern and posthuman traditions of interpretation, and supplementary readings selected by students themselves allow them to customise the course to the own research needs. Key themes include language and meaning, dialogue and conversation, text and translation, self and narrative, truth and relativism, history and historicity, politics and critique, dialogue and conversation, text and translation, being and metaphysics. Students become familiar with key humanistic thinkers and are challenged to consider the implications of longstanding methodological debates to their own doctoral projects.  

Course assessment

The course participants are encouraged to contribute to the course evaluation. An evaluation form will be made available to students after submission of the essay.

Literature