Philosophy

Jacques Derrida: “Two Interpretations of Interpretation”



Introduction

Throughout the history of philosophy, different thinkers in their writings have paid attention to the problem of interpretation.

The exception to this rule is the hermeneutic tradition, where the problem of interpretation comes to the fore. F. Schleiermacher in the late 18th and early 19th centuries developed the concept of "universal hermeneutics", aimed at understanding the text and comprehension of its meaning. In general, the merit of Schleiermacher and hermeneutics is that it deals not only with applied research, i.e. the interpretations of specific in the text, but also develops the whole concept of understanding (a philosophical turn introduces this concept and explores its characteristics, steps and features). But despite the theming problems associated with the interpretation of texts, the interpretation as an independent strategy remains in hermeneutics in the shade and it was considered only as a means of achieving understanding.

Discussion

In 20th century, changes had taken place in philosophy and other humanities led to the interpretation that the procedure itself and its philosophical understanding came to the fore.

Problematization of interpretation, as a particular epistemological strategy, takes place in modern philosophy. The First-turn, in connection with the radical changes in the perception of text and textuality that have occurred in philosophy. In the classical philosophical tradition, the text was understood only as a record of some ideas events, occurrences, and the modern philosophers for the most part treat the text as a more universal concept. Now the notion of text can be sent, not only to written documents, but also to the reality as it appears to the person is in fact (the reality is presented as a text). And accordingly, the interpretation of this comprehensive text is the only way of knowing: in this case epistemological activity is synonymous with the interpretation of action.

Another important aspect that played a big role in the actualization of the problem of interpretation. It has played so-called principle of the author's death, which was developed in the post-structural philosophy. One consequence of this principle is the dispersion of the only meaning that existed in the classical tradition, which is sealed with a figure of the author. This means that the philosophy and culture is no longer based on the unique problem of disclosure and the only truth, meaning or content. Axiom is the assumption that the text contains a multiplicity of meanings and values that for each reader and interpreter revealed a new way (Buck-Morse, Pp. 11-36). Consequently, any reader may interpret the source text in a unique way. This means that the focus of the philosophy and culture is transferred to the study of different interpretations of how cognitive strategies measure. Such a view of the text, it is obvious that the problem of interpretation becomes one of the most important and timely topics for reflection. Derrida played major role in shaping such a representation of the text. He formulated the basic approaches and concepts that allow describing and exploring the world as a ...