Thursday, 2 August 2012

Holism without Skepticism… Holism Framed Interpretation

BOHMAN, J.F. (1991) Holism without Skepticism: Contexualism and the Limits of Interpretation. In: D.R. HILEY, J.F. BOHMAN, and R. SHUSTERMAN (Eds.) The Interpretive Turn. Cornell University Press. pp129-154

“the perspectival and contextual character of interpretation leads to the most common form of scepticism about interpretation: since we can interpret thing only from ‘our’ point of view, our interpretations are inevitably ethnocentric. It is impossible to understand others as they understand themselves: we understand them only according to ‘our own lights.’ My aim here is to dispute the common philosophical basis for all such views that assert that there are such inherent, contextual limits on how we interpret others.” (pp130-131)

Annotation:
Phenomenology attempts to reveal and understand the individual’s perception of an experience. Bohman is using a transcendental Holism that is useful to a phenomenologist as it frames an understanding on the nature of interpretation. Coming from a nursing perspective Holism treats the whole person rather than just the problem. The theory is that there is an interconnection between the parts that constitute the whole. With such an interconnection the parts cannot be wholly understood without understanding the whole. This is circular, reiterative and integrated. Therefore this is helpful to a phenomenological hermeneutic circle being applied to interpret and understand how people perceive and experience an interaction in their lives. 

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