Expanding Philosophical Hermeneutics Beyond its Egological Elements: Highlighting Some Trajectories
The aim of the paper is to highlight some of the varied efforts at expanding the basic foundation of philosophical hermeneutics. Philosophical hermeneutics is the hermeneutic disposition specific to the philosophy of Hans-Georg Gadamer. The contention of the paper is that Gadamer's hermeneutic project is exclusivist in that it limits the actualisation of the interpretative event to only articulated language. That is, language enunciated only in the forms of writing or speech can be interpreted. Thus, it has no place for unarticulated language in the form of bodily gestures and overtures. I argue that part of the reasons for this exclusion is the fact that Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics is grounded on a certain 'egologic' of knowledge which has held sway in western philosophy and science right from the inauguration of Rene Descartes' ego cogito. Major reactions to this exclusivist tendency in Gadamer's hermeneutics prioritises a form of 'bio-logic' of knowledge, in which the body, its life and place have very crucial roles to play in science and philosophy. These reactions insist that 'bio-logy' is also fundamental to the quest for hermeneutic interpretation. Some trajectories of this 'bio-logical' approach are couched in lines of thinking like: (i) pragmatist hermeneutics and (ii) carnal hermeneutics. These approaches to hermeneutics appropriate and expand Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics in order to make his task of the fusion of horizons truly complete. The philosophical method of analysis is used in the paper.
Keywords: egological, elements, expanding, hermeneutics, highlighting, philosophical, trajectories