The Sociological Significance of Gadamer's Hermeneutics
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
University of New Hampshire University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository Doctoral Dissertations Student Scholarship Winter 1988 The sociological significance of Gadamer's hermeneutics Thomas G. McGowan University of New Hampshire, Durham Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation Recommended Citation McGowan, Thomas G., "The sociological significance of Gadamer's hermeneutics" (1988). Doctoral Dissertations. 1564. https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation/1564 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS The most advanced technology has been used to photo graph and reproduce this manuscript from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are re produced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand corner and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book. These are also available as one exposure on a standard 35mm slide or as a 17" x 23" black and white photographic print for an additional charge. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6" x 9" black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. University Microfilms International A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 Order Number 8007446 The sociological significance of Gadamer’s hermeneutics McGowan, Thomas G., Ph.D. University of New Hampshire, 1988 Copyright ©1988 by McGowan, Thomas G. All rights reserved. UMI 300 N. Zceb R A Ann Arbor, MI 48106 THE SOCIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF GADAMER'S HERMENEUTICS BY Thomas G. McGowan BA, Hunter College, CUNY, 1983 MSSR, Hunter College, CUNY, 1985 DISSERTATION Submitted to the University of New Hampshire in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology December, 1988 This dissertation has been examined and approved. Dissertation direclSor, Walter Buckley Professor of Sociology P vifc I deo-.Pi Peter Dodge, Associate Prof^sor and Chairperson of Spciologj JAJ\ /T W/MvCLasWA._______ Kirk R. Williams Associate Professor of Sociology R. Valentine Dusek Associate* Professor of Philosophy Robert C. Scharff Associate Professor of Philosophy 7"1 trV-twJuAS <13, /9 Date ALL RIGHTS RESERVED C 1988 Thomas G. McGowan DEDICATION I dedicate this work, and the effort it embodies, wife Lisa, and to our daughters Addie and Hannah. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This work would not have been possible had it not been for the support of my wife Lisa, who maintained our home and guided and protected our children during my long periods of absence. I would also like to thank my committee members, who provided me with much needed advice and direction. Special thanks to Walter Buckley, who encouraged my interest in a somewhat obscure tradition and supported my effort even when our positions diverged. I would also like to thank Peter Dodge, who instilled in me confidence during periods of self-doubt. Special thanks also to Deena Peschke, whose unbearable wit made the long hours in Horton bearable; and to Angele Cook, whose genuine concern over my fate as a graduate student inspired me to move and move quickly. Special thanks also to John Byrne, who spent Thanksgiving Day helping me produce an acceptable final draft of this work. Special thanks also to Dan Santoro, who arranged for the final copies of this work to be printed. (Congrats to you, too, Dan!) v TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION............................................ iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS....................................... V LIST OF TABLES........................................ viii ABSTRACT.............................................. ix CHAPTER PAGE I. NATURE, SCOPE AND PURPOSE....................... 1 What is Hermeneutics?......................... 11 Plan of the Chapters.......................... 15 II. DEFINITION OF RESEARCH PROBLEM.................. 21 Interpretation and Environmental Sociology.... 22 Immediate Environmental Concern in Milford.... 33 The Milford Case Study ....................... 37 Reflectivity and Interpretive Change......... 41 III. THE NATURE OF INTERPRETATION.................... 51 An Overview of Gadaroer's Truth and Method 53 Heidegger’s Being and Time.................... 62 Heidegger's Conception of Understanding...... 66 Heidegger and Traditional-Hermeneutics....... 77 Gadamer and the Prejudiced Nature of Interpretation................................. 86 IV. LINGUISTICALITY, PREJUDICE AND HERMENEUTICAL REFLECTION........................ 96 The Linguisticality of Understanding......... 101 Effective-Historical Consciousness............ 114 Gadamer* s Concept of Truth.................... 125 vi What is Hermeneutical Reflection?............. 133 V. THE SOCIAL-THEORETICAL RECEPTION OF GADAMER'S HERMENEUTICS.......................... 137 Giddens Discovers Hermeneutics............... 139 Habermas' Reading of Gadamer................. 159 The Gadamer-Habermas Debate.................. 170 VI. HERMENEUTICS AND INTERPRETIVE SOCIOLOGY........ 202 Max Weber and Interpretive Sociology......... 204 The Psychological Rendering of Interpretive Sociology........................ 209 The Experience Called Verstehen............... 215 Alfred Schutz and The Phenomenology of the Social World.................... 233 Interactionism and George Herbert Mead 251 VII. THE SOCIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF GADAMER* S HERMENEUTICS......................... 262 Theoretical Implications...................... 273 Toward a Theory of Interpretive Domination.... 289 Semantical Analysis and Prejudices............ 298 The Sociological Study of Hermeneutical Reflection...................... 306 Conclusion..................................... 320 LIST OF REFERENCES.................................... 326 LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Differentiation of immediate and non-immediate environmental concern, p. 32. Table 2. Specific statements explaining change in environmental concern in Milford, p. 39. Table 3. General statements explaining change in environmental concern in Milford, p. 40. ABSTRACT THE SOCIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF GADAMER*S HERMENEUTICS by Thomas G. McGowan University of New Hampshire, December, 1988 This study is a social-theoretical analysis of Hans- Georg Gadamer*s philosophical hermeneutics. Special attention is paid to Gadamer*s analysis of the nature of interpretation, which is based in part on Martin Heidegger's concept of the fore-structure of understanding. This Heideggerian concept, which implies that interpretation cannot proceed without a prior understanding of its object, reappears in Gadamer*s work in his notion of the prejudiced condition of interpretation. According to Gadamer, interpretation is prejudiced because it involves the application of preconscious linguistical concepts the truth status of which is assumed during their moment of application. Gadamer rejects a strictly pejorative view of prejudices, however, viewing them as necessary preliminary judgments of meaning that may be true or false. For Gadamer, the task we face is to experience prejudices consciously by bringing into discourse their tacit semantical content. This process is defined by Gadamer as the experience of hermeneutical reflection. Hermeneutical reflection yields an "effective-historical consciousness,” consciousness that is aware of the anterior and meaning- constitutive effect of one's existence within a linguistic tradition. The interpretive-sociological contributions of Max Weber, Alfred Schutz and G. H. Mead are also discussed and contrasted with Gadamer's analysis of the prejudiced nature of interpretation. The social-theoretical reception of Gadamer is also discussed. It is argued that Anthony Giddens and Jurgen Habermas misunderstand Gadamer1s claim regarding the universality of hermeneutics and consequently fail to grasp the full significance of his hermeneutics for sociology. In the case of Giddens, the implications of Gadamer's hermeneutics are limited to the theoretical realm in Habermas, the implications are taken to be strictly methodological. It is argued that the sociological significance of Gadamer is topical, as well as theoretical and methodological. By "topical" we mean that Gadamer's hermeneutics may be used to introduce new topics and questions for research within sociology. It is proposed that sociologists