From Philosophical Hermeneutics To Scientific Hermeneutics

The main target of this dissertation is to to extend Gadamer’s universality of hermeneutics into the horizon of natural science, i.e., apply the universality of Philosophical Hermeneutics to natural science. The focus of the discussion is a derivative comparison between Gadamer’s Philosophical Hermeneutics and Kuhn’s philosophy of science, which aims to reveal the the thought of scientific hermeneutics in Kuhn’s philosophy of science from Gadamer’s horizon of Hermeneutics.The dissertation centers on Kuhn’s concept of paradigm which highly contains the connotation of hermeneutics, starting with Gadamer’s philosophical Hermeneutics, it discusses the derivation of universality of Gadamer’s Hermeneutics into the horizon of natural science from the dimensions of Bildung and community, prejudice and its relevant factors, hermeneutic practice and hermeneutic language view. These fields of nature science are embodied in the interpretation of historical science text by historians of science, the understanding of new paradigm of the scientists under the old paradigm, learners’studying of paradigm, the invention of new paradigm by significant scientists in scientific revolution., the perfection of paradigm by scientists in normal science, and so on.The dissertation contains five chapters. In Chapter I, there is a discussion on the pursuit of universality of Hermeneutics, i.e., the universality of Hermeneutics extending from human science to natural science, which is an inevitable tendency of its historical development. Since Protestant reform movement in Germany, Hermeneutics has been developing toward universality all the time, going through the process of developing from partial hermeneutics to general hermeneutics and from hermeneutics of epistemology and methodology to hermeneutics of ontology. But the universality of Hermeneutics is limited in the field of human science in Gadamer’s theory. There is theoretical basis in the thoughts of Heidegger and Husserl for extending Gadamer’s universality of hermeneutics into the horizon of natural science, meanwhile Gadamer’s related thought suggests its possibility. What’s more, the turning of hermeneutics appears in modern philosophy of science of England and America as well, especially in Kuhn’s thought, which has abundant connotation of hermeneutics. The similarity between Gadamer’s hermeneutics and Kuhn’s thought of philosophy of science makes the conversation and communication between them possible. As a result, it is possible for us to extend Gadamer’s universality of hermeneutics into the horizon of natural science.In chapter Ⅱ, the thoughts of Gadamer and Kuhn are compared in the aspects of Bildung and community. The concept of Bildung is in the position of starting point and foundation in Truth and Method, meanwhile scientific education is considered to have reflected the special nature of science in Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Kuhn’s related discussion on scientific education contains lots of factors of Bildung, thus his scientific education is the embodiment of derivation of Gadamer’s Bildung. The community formed through Bildung is the community of Bildung while the community formed through scientific education is scientific community. The community of Bildung and scientific community both have their own features and functions, and scientific community is derived from community of Bildung.In chapter Ⅲ, there is a comparison between them from the aspects of prejudice and its related contents. Gadamer raised the principle of historical understanding to the principle of hermeneutics, the contents of which were reflected in his theory of prejudice and its relevant factors and involved the connotation of concept of prejudice, authority, fusion of horizons and so on. The revelation of Kuhn’s concept of paradigm and its function could excavate the hermeneutic connotation of paradigm. Paradigm could be viewed as a type of derivation of prejudice and the embodiment of possibility of understanding of natural science, and the fusions of horizons related to paradigm is also reflected in natural science.In chapter IV, there is a comparison between Gadamer and Kuhn from the aspect of hermeneutic practice. Gadamer brought the problem of application into hermeneutics again so as to unite understanding, interpretation and application. He then demonstrated this unification on the basis of Aristotle’descriptions of moral phenomenon, and regarded hermeneutics of law as the model of hermeneutics of human science. Kuhn’s philosophy of science has also revealed that science is a kind of practical cause. The practical factors revealed by Kuhn’s philosophy of science render hermeneutic practice able to extend into natural science.The comparison between Gadamer and Kuhn from the view of language is made in the last chapter. Gadamer realized the turning of language of hermeneutics, the content of which was mainly reflected in language as the medium of hermeneutic experiences and horizon of hermeneutic ontology. Kuhn’s scientific philosophy had also reflected on the turning of language, and had defended his philosophical thought in prior period from the angle of linguistics. As a result, we can further reveal the hermeneutic thought of natural science in Kuhn’s philosophy of science from the language view of Gadamer’s hermeneutics.The possibility of hermeneutics of natural science in the horizon of philosophical hermeneutics is revealed through the comparisons between them, which has crucial significance for the development of hermeneutics and philosophy of science.