Fusion of horizons: Realizing a meaningful understanding in qualitative research

This paper explores a case example of qualitative research that applied productive hermeneutics and the central concept, fusion of horizons. Interpretation of meaning is a fusing of the researchers’ and subjects’ perspectives and serves to expand understanding. The purpose is to illustrate an exemplar of qualitative research without establishing a rigid recipe of methodology. The illustration is based on in-depth observational and textual data from an applied anthropological study conducted in western Alaska with Yup’ik hunters and fishers and government agency employees as they worked towards collaborative management. The metaphor of the hermeneutical circle is showcased to help the reader understand the philosophical underpinnings and the analytical processes used to realize a meaningful interpretation. A series of organizing systems for the interpretation is described, culminating in a final organizing system to communicate a fully realized understanding of collaborative management at the time.

Nagaraeba – Hegel und Fujiwara no Kiyosuke

Although there is a dispute among grammarians as to whether Japanese is a tense or aspect language, time expressions tend to be made from the perspective of the speaker, i.e. under the aspect of an event that is “now, in this moment already completed, just happening, or not yet happening.” Evidently, the notion of a threefoldedness of time perception is predominant. A comparison of different time concepts and philosophies points towards a transcultural circulation of this notion. Hegel’s philosophy exemplifies the effectiveness and shaping function of this notion of threefold time concepts. Using Fujiwara no Kiyosuke’s poem Nagaraeba, I aim to show how the thesis of the threefoldedness also of the traditional Japanese experience of time, together with the thesis of the aspect orientation of the Japanese language, may help us to interpret and understand classical waka, along the lines of the so-called “fusion of horizons” (Horizontverschmelzung) described by Hans-Georg Gadamer.

Hermeneutic Priority of Which Question?

An axiom of philosophical hermeneutics is that questioning has hermeneutic priority. Yet there are many different kinds of questions. Which sort has priority in understanding complete thoughts and for bringing about a fusion of horizons? Speech act theory is one resource for specifying which kind. I first develop the broad notion of questioning in philosophical hermeneutics. Second, I examine aspects of question taxonomies in pedagogy as well as their shortcomings. Third, I turn to the Speech Act approach to questioning and provide a challenge to this theory for adequately addressing what kind takes hermeneutic priority. I propose the category of “suspensives” as the kind of interlocutionary act definitive for questions that have hermeneutic priority.

Buddhists Herminutics: An Analysis of Dhammapada in Sustainable Development

Gautama Buddha, the emblem of peace and love, pioneer of Buddhism, was born in Kapilabastu, Lumbini, Nepal. The peace and love. Compassion in Buddhism is the basic element of Sustainable development. Thus Buddha is the pioneer of sustainable development. Buddha’s text Dhammapada in the present sustainable era is more relevant than past. The paper deals with the hermeneutic analysis of Buddhist’s text Dhammapada in sustainable development. Hermeneutics generally starts from the context of the historical text and ends with the contemporary general understanding. Hermeneutics is concerned with the construction of meaning within the relationship between author/text/reader, and the overarching paradigm. It is the relationship between Buddha, Dhammapada, and sustainable development. It follows six steps as below: 1. Observation and Contextualization; 2. Structural Analysis; 3. Correlation and Interpretation; 4. Fusion of Horizons in Application; 5. Reconstruction, and 6. Generalization of Understanding of the text. The main objective of the study is to find out the contemporary contextual general understanding of Dhammapada in the sustainable development era. The final standpoint of the hermeneutic analysis of Dhammapada on sustainable development is that the peace and prosperity of the people on the planet are only possible through the meaningful partnership in environment protection and right livelihood.

The interval between humans: A probe into the possibilities of being

By taking as background a few examples from Japanese culture and society, as well as an ethnographic insight, this article reconsiders the way anthropology usually deals with and talks about issues regarding cultural differences in human relations. These issues, which start from the fact that different cultures articulate human relations in different ways, have as one of their main theoretical outcomes the analysis around the categories of “self” or “person.” However, within this move lies something akin to a “gestalt misconception” that reduces a shared moral understanding (human relations) to an analysis of conceptual categories and their cognitive, psychological, subjective (or other) processes. Alternatively, the article proposes a more dialogical approach informed by Gadamer’s idea of “dialog” and “fusion of horizons,” where one aims to learn from other cultures and not about them. As a result, some reflections of a philosophical, moral, and practical character are presented, leaving theoretical formulations about the “Japanese self” out of the equation. This article’s general purpose is not an exploration of “Japaneseness,” but rather a probe into the possibilities of Being.

The Translator-text Interaction Based on Gadamer’s Theory of Fusion of Horizons: A Case Study of Translations of Romantic Poetry into Persian

Love of poetry has a long history among Iranians, so is the case with translation of poetry in their recent attempts. Thus, the significant number of translations has been made from Western poems. British Romantic poetry, as one type of Western poetry, has been translated since the beginning of poetry translation in Iran. This paper aims to investigate the translations of the British Romantic poems diachronically, the translations published in the 20th century, before the Revolution of 1979, and synchronically, the Romantic poems translated in the 21st century, the post-Revolutionary period. To fulfill the purpose, Schäffner’s theory of translation competences was applied to reveal which century met them more adeptly. For the linguistic competence, besides the text analysis of all translations, the number of the parts of speech of four translations attributed to a poem was counted and compared to the number of the original poem to verify the result. The analysis of the competences, as one of the tools of translation assessment, proves the attainment of Gadamer’s theory on the fusion of horizons for translators. The examination indicates that the translation competences are more developed in the translations of the 21st century. Therefore, in this century, translators achieve the fusion of horizons more effectively, and the translation trend of British Romantic poetry has improved. Keywords: Poetry translation, British Romantic poetry, Translation competence, Fusion of horizons, Persian literature, The Revolution of 1979.

Produção de Conhecimento em Abordagem Centrada na Pessoa: Um Percurso Teórico-Metodológico Gadameriano

This article aims to present the theoretical-methodological route, built by the first author in his Master's Dissertation under the guidance of the second, based on Hans-Georg Gadamer hermeneutic-philosophical philosophy. Its relevance is justified because it is a structured alternative for conducting bibliographic research within the scope of the Person Centered Approach (PCA). For this, we initially want to justify an epistemological choice of gadamerian hermeneutics in its relation to the research objective. Then, we present the conceptual network formed by the articulation of prejudice, language, tradition, update and fusion of horizons that supports this perspective, in a ways that allows, later, to systematize the phases of information investigation, comprehensive analysis and hermeneutic synthesis to the development of research on the proposed problem. The article ends with the observation of the potentiality and proficiency related to the approximation, and consequent articulation, between PCA and the Gadamerian philosophical perspective, with reflections on the implications regarding the use of a hermeneutic-philosophical method in the production of knowledge in the approach. Palavras-chave : Person-Centered Approach; Philosophical Hermeneutic; Carl Rogers; Hans-Georg Gadamer.

Doing a Hermeneutic Phenomenology Research Underpinned by Gadamer’s Philosophy: A Framework to Facilitate Data Analysis

Phenomenology is an umbrella term that refers to both a philosophical movement and a variety of research approaches. Hermeneutic phenomenology is a methodology, which is not rigidly set or prescribed. Hence, students and researchers using a hermeneutic phenomenology approach underpinned by Gadamer’s philosophy may struggle to apply his concepts while analysing data. This article describes a new framework that provides guidance on how to analyse data in a research study while remaining faithful to the major tenets of Gadamer’s work (pre-understandings, hermeneutic circle and fusion of horizons) and closely adhering to the central tenets. The framework provides a step-by-step strategy to ensure rigour while maintaining trustworthiness. This may serve as a useful guide for neophyte students and researchers using or considering Gadamer’s version of hermeneutic phenomenology in their studies.

Fra impuls til konseptuell idé i egenskapt barneteater – En hermeneutisk prosess i samspill mellom barn og kunstnere

This article is about the initial phases in devised theatre for children, and examines how children can be included in the creative process. In a musical theatre project for kindergarten children, a group of students developed a performance in close dialogue with reference groups of children. Gadamer’s concept of fusion of horizons is essential. The meeting of horizons – between students’ and children’s ideas and the source material – is crucial for the development of a conceptual idea for target groups. This is possible through a continuous dialogue between the students’ ideas and the children’s input, so that meaning is progressively created in hermeneutic circles between them.

Al-Qur’an, Gaya Hidup Halal, dan Fusion Of Horizons: Studi QS. Al-Baqarah (2): 168

The rapid development of modern era and technology has been motivated Muslim(s) to deepen their Islamic knowledge and faith, covering how they select foods, outfits, and economic transactions model. This phenomenon has led to a new term namely Halal Lifestyle and so that became a basis for this article. The trend of halal lifestyle in this disruption era was used as an opportunity by businessmen or investors, both local and foreign, to promote their syaria-branding business. The primary root of this paper is the existence of al-Qur'an as a holy book, which contains various things of human problems, including about the halal way of life. We refered to the hermeneutic theory “fusion of horizon” initiated by H.G. Gadamer by harmonizing historical texts of the past and history of the present. This theory was used to correlate between Al-Qur’an, al-Baqarah (2): 168 and the halal lifestyle trend in the current era of disruption.