Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher (1768–1834) was a German philosopher and theologian who is considered to be the founder of modern Protestant theology and modern hermeneutics as a philosophy rather than a specialised subject-matter method (such as used in theology or law).
Schleiermacher was interested in developing a systematic and comprehensive theory that deals with our understanding of linguistic communication (mostly written texts but also speeches). Therefore, he viewed hermeneutics as the art of understanding. How do we understand the meaning of a text? Hermeneutics should answer this question with respect to any text (all subject areas) from any historical period and in any language. Understanding is achieved through a complex process of interpretation that must be described as a method. Schleiermacher held that, contrary to popular opinion, misunderstanding is much more common than understanding.
An absolutely essential element of good (artful) interpretation is a good prior grasp of the respective text’s and author’s historical context. For Schleiermacher, this must be the very first step before one begins to interpret the text itself. Interpretation consists of two equally important elements: grammatical (or linguistic) interpretation and technical (or psychological) interpretation. While the former focuses on the author’s use of words and the grammatical rules governing such use in that language (considering its time, place, and intended readers), the latter endeavours to discover the author’s main idea, goal, and motivation to communicate their thoughts.
Because we are all different as individuals, language influences our thoughts differently, and, therefore, we shape language (by using it) in diverse ways. Depending on the specific text, different weights should be applied to each side of the interpretation, but there should nonetheless be a mix of both. Focusing only on one side of interpretation – either grammatical or psychological – inevitably produces a one-sided understanding. The goal, however, is to expand our understanding of the meaning through repeated circles of interpretation.
One of the widespread beliefs about interpreting a text many of us readers hold today has its roots in Schleiermacher’s ideas about the psychological side of interpretation. Namely, in order to understand the meaning of a text we think we should ‘get into’ its author’s head. Schleiermacher expressed the task of hermeneutics this way:
“To understand the text at first as well as and then even better than its author.”
Friedrich Schleiermacher
Schleiermacher claimed that, as interpreters, we must place ourselves in the author’s position. We should do this objectively—to know the author’s language as they knew it—and subjectively—to know the inner and outer aspects shaping the author’s life. His distinction between the objective and subjective sides follows the categorisation of interpretation into grammatical (objective) and psychological (subjective) elements. But how can we understand the text even better than its author?
Schleiermacher’s answer is: by becoming “aware of many things of which he himself may have been unconscious, except insofar as he reflects on his own work and becomes his own reader.” So, in a way, we can understand the text better than its author by being critical and attentive readers. To do this, Schleiermacher offers the following instructions for interpreting a text or a statement:
- Objective-historical – interpret a statement within the context of the respective language as the broader (historic) system, which produces the knowledge contained in that statement.
- Objective-prophetic – sense what will the statement’s role be in shaping the development of the respective language.
- Subjective-historical – gather knowledge on the history of the statement’s emergence in the author’s mind.
- Subjective-prophetic – sense how the ideas contained in the statement will shape the author’s further thought.
Given the complexity of the hermeneutic task, Schleiermacher acknowledged that it is infinite. Understanding of meaning is not something we gain immediately. It reveals itself gradually, over repeated readings and interpretations.
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Source of Schleiermacher’s primary text: Kurt Mueller-Vollmer, The Hermeneutics Reader (Continuum: New York, 1985), chapter on Schleiermacher, 72-97.
Image credit: By Ivan Kramskoi – https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16082139
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