Phenomenological Reviews

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176772

The hermeneutic context of constitution

Dimitri Ginev(St. Kliment Ohridski University)

pp. 43-52

Abstract

In this paper I concentrate on two distinctions introduced by Patrick A. Heelan. At stake in the distinction between weak and strong hermeneutics of natural science is the issue of the possibility of an interpretative-ontological approach to the rationality of science. The distinction between cultural praxis-laden meaning and theory-laden meaning has much to do with a philosophico-hermeneutic critique of the account of scientific theory elaborated in the post-positivist philosophy of science. My primary aim is to show that the "hermeneutic turn" in the philosophy of science as informed by the two distinctions allows one to delineate a particular context of scrutinizing science. In opposing both the normative epistemology (the rational reconstruction of science's cognitive structure) and the deconstruction of epistemology (the denunciation that there are aspects of science's cognitive structure which have to be approached as non-empirical objects of inquiry), I shall treat this hermeneutic context of constitution as an alternative to the context of justification and the context of discovery. What I am referring to is an attempt to forge a notion of scientific rationality by studying the hermeneutic fore-structure of scientific research.1 It is my aim to show that in the context of constitution one can hold the view that (pace Rorty) the science-nonscience opposition "cuts culture at a philosophically significant joint" without appealing to the uniqueness of epistemological features like a special method, or a special relation to reality.

Publication details

Published in:

Babich Babette (2002) Hermeneutic philosophy of science, van Gogh's eyes, and God: essays in Honor of Patrick A. Heelan, S.J.. Dordrecht, Springer.

Pages: 43-52

DOI: 10.1007/978-94-017-1767-0_4

Full citation:

Ginev Dimitri (2002) „The hermeneutic context of constitution“, In: B. Babich (ed.), Hermeneutic philosophy of science, van Gogh's eyes, and God, Dordrecht, Springer, 43–52.