Hermeneutics: Interpretation Theory… Russian Dolls

PALMER, R.E. (1969) Hermeneutics: Interpretation Theory in Schleiermacher, Dilthey, Heidegger, and Gadamer. Evanston: Northwestern University Press.

“Analysis is interpretation; feeling the need for analysis is also an interpretation. Thus analysis is really not the primary interpretation but a derivative form; it has a preliminarily set the stage with an essential and primarily interpretation before it ever begins to work with the data.” (p23)

Annotation:
Unpacking analysis as an early form of interpretation begins to become problematic as the word ‘interpretation’ keeps being used to describe an earlier stage of itself. Like a Russian doll the deeper we go inside, the smaller the versions of the doll become. If analysis is an interpretive form, then so is the feeling that analysis needs to be made. This takes interpretation internally in on itself and away from the important points as to what it is.