Gadamer: Hermeneutics and the Human Sciences

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Dr. Michael Sugrue earned his BA at the University of Chicago and PhD at Columbia University.

[WesternHog]

You know Sugrue is about to drop something profound when he finishes a sentence, then starts again, “Now...”

[gnpahdc]

We lost him today. I've listened to this one over and over, and over again in recent years.

[ahobimo]

Dr. Sugrue's lectures set the bar for academic excellence. There is no chaff here. This is pure intellectual paydirt.

[lmahfuz]

I first discovered Prof. Sugrue during my Bachelor’s in Philosophy. Now, as a young academic teaching philosophy and ethics at a university in Bangladesh, I find myself deeply grateful to him. He enlightened me, sharpened my thinking, and opened my mind to countless ideas. I not only enjoyed his lectures but also found myself engaging in deep discussions with friends who share my passion for philosophy. I still cherish a picture of him standing beside a wall with a quote by Rabindranath Tagore: "He who plants a tree knowing that he will never sit under its shade has at least begun to understand the meaning of life." Prof. Sugrue planted that tree of knowledge within us, a tree that will live on forever. Rest in peace, Professor. I will always be grateful.

[alexanderflood]

1:10 - goal of Gadamer's hermenetic project: bring student to Effective Historical Consciousness. Form of "Phrenesis."
4:35 - mentions "gestalt" of knowledge arising from historical development
5:15 - likens his stance to Aristotle's stance on Tragedy in the Poetics: there are rules for its construction, although its appreciation is a subjective endeavor.
12:40 - brings up that everyone, even a positivist, will learn things from the writings of Shakespeare, even though there is hard and fast method for doing so
"nomathetic" - generates hard and fast rules; "idiographic" = generates pictures (perhaps there's a third one that generates words or thought?)
14:30 - two kinds of knowledge: "ferstunf" = reason (i.e. pertaining to any rational being); "ferstain" = understanding (i.e. specifically human understanding)
18:40 - Goethe quote: "if you would inherit from your forefather you must win it again anew" - because we live in temporality, if we are to understand our own conception of the world, our a priori assumptions, even the political and cultural context we find ourselves in, we must investigate what we have, where we got it from, and how our forefathers came to that conclusion in the first place.
26:30 - "transparency of apprehension" - the idea that a good interpretation is a transparent interpretation - one where you no longer see the distinction between the interpreter and the thing interpreted. e.g. a good actor portrayal of Hamlet is one where we see only Hamlet, not the actor playing Hamlet; a good psychoanalyst is one who describes the patient's thoughts in their own words, not twisting them into the structure of their own theories.
37:20 - Gadmer's effective historical consciousness is using language to understand that language is historically conditioned, and that this conditioning distorts interpretation, and that that's not a problem, it's just a part of Dasein
37:40 - dialectical nature of the hermeneutic circle (not a vicious circle; rather, a reverse ourobouros). We approach a text with expectations, our expectations are thwarted, we redefine our expectations, we approach a text with those expectations, those get thwarted, ad infinitum
40:50 - similar conclusions of Wittgenstein and Gadamer in theory of knowledge: does not follow that "soft rules" equate to either gibberish or absolute relativism. Remember Aristotle's "we do not ask more certainty from a discipline than it could possibly give."

[Khumzalet]

Dr Michael Sugrue’s brain is an encyclopaedia 💯

[sirliridon.]

Damn, that German pronunciation at the beginning was top 👌. Shows how much of a professional, Professor Sugrue is.

[connordavey]

As a Fine Art student at university, that lecture has taught me more about the nature and interpretation of art, then any of my current lecturers… that’s pretty damning hahah
but thank you so much!

[nightoftheworld]

39:36 *Gadamer’s problem with positivism: hard science vs. soft science* “You might want to say then (and this is an interesting way, a Heideggerian way of reading hermeneutics) is that his problem with science is that, like Heidegger, Gaddamer believes that science discloses _beings, _ with a small “b” and an “s” at the end—whereas hermeneutics discloses _Being, _ capital “B” with no “s” at the end because that’s the realm of the truly human. When you have completely absorbed your entire cultural tradition that is the realm of _Dasein, _ that is the realm of Being—language and Being perfectly overlap then. So we never quite get to that point but every one of us at any given moment in historical time, we’re living _somewhere, _ we’re in _Dasein_ and our job is to make the most of our horizon by reconnecting ourselves to that historical horizon of our culture and that means the constant ongoing process of _reinterpretation.”_

...and Hegel adds: _Being_ exists as contradiction, as the power of negation connecting the two.

Cadell Last:
_“[R]eality as a totality, for Žižek, is not just “something” of material processes and “nothing” of the void; but also the “less than nothing” of virtuality which he claims has not yet been understood properly ontologically.”_

[carlosgarnica]

Incredible lecture, as always Dr Sugrue. I've listened to almost all your great minds and great authors series, yet te way you have explained the gadamerian proposal has touched me deeply. Thank you again for this treasures from the past that you and your daughter have made available for us.

[Trav]

I’ve spent the better part of 3 days cramming these lectures in. They’re fantastic!

[camdix]

Oh my goodness! What an amazing and so very clear lecture! At university, 45 years ago, I took a philosophy course on hermeneutics. I had a most wonderful professor then. In the intervening years, I have become much more biased toward science and its method as offering truth. I sorely needed to hear this. This lecture is truly a gift. Thank you so very, very much for this! I will be looking for Dr. Sugrue's other lectures.

[OnerousEthic]

His presentation and delivery are delightful and charming and passionate; dare I say a nerd’s nerd? I am so impressed!!!

[MrBernardthecow]

Great video as always. Gadamer's transparency is like the criteria for good acting. "A good actor makes you forget they are reading from a script".

[CaddyOKnoglies]

I can't believe the standard of lecture in every video in the series. Thank you so much for sharing these, Michael!

[muhammadasifkhan]

Fantastic presentation. With ease and simplicity he delivers like true scholar.

[orlamcmahon]

Writing a dissertation now on 'should we separate the art from the artist's intention?' this has been especially helpful as it is hard to place Gadamer within any specific theory. Now understanding he has a philosophy of his own. Has helped me shape my thesis!

[miagilaani]

Damn, he doesn't even pause for a breather. Its like everything is flowing out of him so smoothly.

[andreasj]

I unsuccessfully watched several German videos to understand what Hermeneutics mean. This video finally made me understand it. Thanks.

[Jacob]

Fascinating and extremely competent lecture. This is it!