Abstract

AVILA PENAGOS, RAFAEL. The Hermeneutical Task of the Human Sciences. Signo pensam. [online]. 2012, vol.31, n.60, pp.44-60. ISSN 0120-4823.

In this article, the author sustains the importance and pertinence of the Hermeneutic Tradition for all researchers in the field of the Human Sciences. Two paradigmatic cases open and close the text. These show, in a contusive manner, the impact of the hermeneutic activities on the configuration of new meanings, the change in the ways of seeing and the access to new forms of life in the social universe. In the intermediate/body of the text, the author describes the progressive distance of the Human Sciences with respect to the positivistic paradigm. He focuses on the conceptualization of the four fundamental categories of the hermeneutic activity: comprehension, explanation, interpretation and translation. He argues that the translation of the comprehension is the complementary task of the comprehension of comprehending. Additionally, he incorporates Paul Ricoeur's proposal for a new comprehension of the explanation of the matter in hand. Finally, the author argues that the self-comprehension and the self-valuation of the Human Sciences depend on its reflective capacity to consider its theories and practices like texts susceptible of self-examination.

Keywords : Hermeneutics; comprehension; explanation; interpretation; translation; Hermeneutics; Social sciences; Criticism (philosophy).

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )