China Social Science Review

No.3, 2022

Theoretical Similarities and Differences between Philosophical and Public Interpretation

(Abstract)

Wang Chengjun and Wang Ruiyuan

The emergence of philosophical hermeneutics has injected historical, practical and dialectical contents into hermeneutics, so that understanding has become a process of continuous communion between original and modern understandings. However, this has also exposed marked contradictions and clear relativistic limitations. The distinctive features of the theory of public interpretation are its striking dialectical rationality and societal universality and practice. The emergence of this theory provides a significant perspective for overcoming the limitations to an understanding of philosophical hermeneutics. Comparing philosophical hermeneutics with the rich Chinese cultural characteristics of public interpretation theory is not only conducive to understanding the similarities and differences in their theoretical methods, but also has major significance for enriching China’s theoretical system of public interpretation and catalyzing the promotion of China’s cultural inheritance and innovative progress under the concept of integrating Chinese and Western culture.