Conceptual deep structures and the hermeneutics of Hans-Georg Gadamer

[摘要] The purpose of this study is to explain the notion of conceptual deep structures as aphilosophical construct and to investigate such structures in the hermeneutics of Hans-Georg Gadamer. Conceptual deep structures involve: key-conceptualizations of aphilosophical nature (such as the belief that all knowledge is wholly culturallydetermined); root metaphors determining the content of a specific philosophicaldiscourse (such as viewing culture as a kind of organism); and determining ideologicalparadigms (such as positivism or post-modernism). The research will attempt toinvestigate the role of these factors in the thought of Gadamer - something which hasnever been attempted in this form before. It is also important to note that a specificanalytical methodology is at stake here, which may eventually be implemented todetermine the ground structure of other philosophical discourses.Although many studies of Gadarrier's thought (Gadamer is a major hermeneutic theoristof the previous century) have been undertaken, this particular analysis will achieve aunique philosophical perspective on the determining factor of his thought. In the process,important modifications to two other philosophical theories of conceptual deep structures,namely those of Dooyeweerd and Vollenhoven, will be motivated. These latter theoriesare influential in the circles of Christian philosophy across the world.The central hypothesis of the research is that it will be possible to explain thehermeneuties of Gadamer as deriving from certain determining factors which one canassume to be of an a priori nature (e.g. the guiding role that metaphors have been shownto play in concepts and theories). The methodology implemented here has been usedsuccessfully to analyse the thought of other philosophers, and it seemed that fruitfulresults in the case of Gadamer were also possible. The findings of this research mayaffirm some interpretations of Gadamer's thought, while others may become suspect.More importantly, a new analytical tool in philosophical interpretation (the elucidation ofconceptual deep structures) will be tested and in the process further refined.

[发布机构] University of the Free State