China Social Science Review

No.1, 2024

Is a Unified Hermeneutic Theory Possible

(Abstract)

Chen Jiaming

There are four questions related to the possibility of a unified hermeneutic theory: first, how can a unified methodology be established through the method of “hermeneutics”? Whether the scientific interpretive theory or hermeneutic theory of hermeneutics cannot be separated from the grasp of “causality,” and thus the hermeneutic theory seems to be through the grasp of causality to achieve the unity of interpretation and explanation. Second, since we can only understand and interpret virtual worlds like the metaverse through imagination, the role of imagination in interpretation needs to be explored. The third is whether and how the two norms of truth and consensus need to be combined in hermeneutics. Fourth, there is the question of the relationship between objectivity and public reason, whereby individual reason argues to obtain a cross-cutting consensus on certain key issues, and in so doing produces objectivity in the special sense of spiritual-scientific interpretation.