Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No.3, 2020

On the Types of Modern Hermeneutics

(Abstract)

Fu Yongjun

The German scholar R. Schulz divides modern hermeneutics into three types: technical hermeneutics, hermeneutic philosophy and philosophical hermeneutics. Schulz’s division is insightful, but lacks cogent proof and philosophical grounds. From the ontological perspective, modern hermeneutics has developed from methodological hermeneutics to ontological hermeneutics, accompanied by the transformation of its philosophical basis from traditional entity-based ontology to phenomenological ontology. The difference in ontological positions is the very source of the different types of modern hermeneutics. From the perspective of normative interpretation of their understanding functions, different types of hermeneutics have different cognitive orientations, and thus produce different forms of self-understanding. Technical hermeneutics focuses on “correct understanding,” hermeneutic philosophy is concerned with “what understanding is for,” while philosophical hermeneutics pays attention to “the conditions for understanding” and answers the more fundamental philosophical question of how understanding is possible. Research on the types of modern hermeneutics is helpful for clarifying the concept of hermeneutics, for understanding the complexity of modern hermeneutics, for grasping the significance of modern hermeneutics, and for promoting the diversified development of Chinese hermeneutics.