Existence And Undersanding

As basic concepts in traditional hermeneutics or philosophical hermeneutics that involves ontological change, language, text, understanding and interpretation construct the edifice of hermeneutic thought through their theoretical correlations. The existential analysis made by Heidegger and Gadamer on language, understanding and interpretation reveals the internal relationship between hermeneutics and the existential theory.In the existential clarification of hermeneutic thought, language is no longer a communication tool controlled by human, but the sage of being and an understandable being. It manifests itself as the world-experience of language and spiritualization of life in the existence of human life. Language is correlated with the three dimensions of existential theory, that is, becoming-onto, life-being and life-world-being. Language is the sage of logos on the first dimension, the inner word of life on the second dimension, and the objectified expression of life and objective spirit of the world-experience on the third dimension.Expressed in the form of words, the world-experience of language then becomes the text that can be read. In a more profound sense, objectification of all expressions of life is clarification of the world-experience of language in the social history, for example, philosophical thought, works of art, rules and regulations of law and morals. While historical events, as extension of becoming-onto in time and space, are historical event-texts in themselves.An exploration from the written text to the historical event-text promotes understanding from a behavioral pattern of human to a pattern of being. A tracing of the conceptual history and thinking thread of understanding demonstrates that understanding, in intertwining of"logos"and"nous"already possesses an orientation towards existential theory. Modern epistemology reduces understanding to an intellectual activity, interrelated with conception and concepts. Based on understanding of practice and experience of life, however, it reaches the existential horizon. Only through the inherent fore-understanding can human comprehend being and design the potentiality-for-being towards the future being in the falling.Because of the existential clarification of understanding, interpretation that coexists with understanding also oversteps the meaning of methodology. That is, it does not mean the usually so-called"explanation"or"annotation", but the opening, demasking and clarification of"existence", intrinsically similar to"Release mind and free soul"advocated by Chuang Tzu. In this sense, both the expression of life and practice of association, of which the intrinsic power is objectified, are expression modes interpreted by the existential-ontology. The opposition between traditional interpretation and practice as well as the conception that practice is superior to interpretation are deconstructed. The existence-hermeneutics ultimately is a philosophy of practice.The"practice"of existence-hermeneutics is not a particular behavioral pattern of production and association, but an internal correlation between human, human life, and the historical world of society generated by objectification of the human intrinsic power. This original practice, as a being way of human, reveals human essence and corroborates it in association of the social relationships. Transcending the binary opposition between interpretation and practice, Heidegger advocates that"Care"and"Thought"are interpretation and opening for the existing Dasein, and they are basic patterns of being and original practice patterns, while"practical wisdom"and"technique knowledge"advocated by Aristotle are derivatives of original practice. Therefore, practice becomes a fundamental link for Dasein to interpret existence. It adequately manifests the intrinsic power of human through association of language experience in the life-world, thus understanding the social history and corroborating its life existence in objectification of the ego.