Phenomenology and Hermeneutics in Literary Criticism

Manuel Echevarria Soto

ENGG 630

Prof. E. Lugo

February 18, 2009.

Objectives

OB

JEC

TIV

ES

• To understand what hermeneutical phenomenology is.

• To view the approach of this ideas in the literary criticism

HERMENEUTICAL PHENOMENOLOGY

HER

ME

NEU

TIC

AL

PH

EN

OM

EN

OLO

GY

Hermeneutical phenomenology studies interpretive structures of experience, how we understand and engage things around us in our human world, including ourselves and others (Woodruff, 2008)

Husserl, Heidegger and Gadamer sought to uncover the life world or human experience as it is lived (Laverty, 2003)

What is hermeneutical phenomenology?

HER

ME

NEU

TIC

AL

PH

EN

OM

EN

OLO

GY

Key Terms (from Siegel, n.d.)• Dasein - simply, "being there," or "being-in-the

world" - Heidegger argued that "what is distinctive about human existence is its Dasein ('givenness'): our consciousness both projects the things of the world and at the same time is subjected to the world by the very nature of existence in the world" (Selden and Widdowson 52).

• Intentionality – “is at the heart of knowing. We live in meaning, and we live 'towards,' oriented to experience." (Lye, 1996).

What is hermeneutical phenomenology?

HER

ME

NEU

TIC

AL

PH

EN

OM

EN

OLO

GY

• Phenomenological Reduction - a concept most frequently associated with Edmund Husserl; as explained by Terry Eagleton, "To establish certainty, then, we must first of all ignore, or 'put in brackets,' anything which is beyond our immediate experience: we must reduce the external world to the contents of our consciousness alone....Everything not 'immanent' to consciousness must be rigorously excluded: all realities must be treated as pure 'phenomena,' in terms of their appearances in our mind, and this is the only absolute data from which we can begin"

What is hermeneutical phenomenology?

PHENOMENOLOGYPHENOMENOLOGY

PH

EN

OM

EN

OLO

GY

Phenomenology is when we classify, describe, interpret, and analyze structures of experiences in ways that answer to our own experience (Woodruff, 2008).

What is phenomenology?

HERMENEUTICS

HER

MEN

EU

TIC

S

Hermeneutic is:

• is the art of interpreting (Abulad, 2007)

• Majorly used in theology

What is hermeneutics?

HERMENEUTICAL PHENOMENOLOGY in LITERARY CRITICISM

LITER

AR

Y C

RIT

ICIS

M

As Valdes remarks in Phenomenological Hermeneutics and the Study of Literature, the makeup of a text is: form, history, the reading experience, and the interpreter's self-reflection (Lye, 1996).

Form is a way of structuring the symbolic world so that there is shareability

How hermeneutical phenomenology is used in literary criticism?

LITER

AR

Y C

RIT

ICIS

M

Possible Examples

LITER

AR

Y C

RIT

ICIS

M

How hermeneutical phenomenology is used in literary criticism?

Thank You!

REFE

REN

CES

Abulad, R. (2007) What is Hermeneutics? Kritike. Vol 1 2. pp 11 – 23 Retrieved on February 16, 2009 from www.kritike.org/journal/issue_2/abulad_december2007.pdf

Laverty, S. (2003) Hermeneutic Phenomenology and Phenomenology: A Comparison of Historical and Methodological Considerations. International Journal of Qualitative Methods. 2 (3) Retrieved on January 27, 2009 from http://www.ualberta.ca/~iiqm/backissues/2_3final/pdf/laverty.pdf

References

REFE

REN

CES

Lye, J. (1996) Some Principles of Phenomenological Hermeneutics. Department of English Language and Literature. Brock University. Retrieved on January 27, 2009 from http://www.brocku.ca/english/courses/4F70/ph.php

Siegel, K. (n.d.) Introduction to Modern Literary Theory. Retrieved on January 27, 2009 from http://www.kristisiegel.com/theory.htm

WoodruffSmith, D. (2008) Phenomenology. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved on January 27, 2009 from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/phenomenology/#1

References