Hermeneutical Phenomenology Presentation

1. HERMENEUTICAL
PHENOMENOLOGY

2. Phenomenology
◦Refers to a person’s perception of the
meaning of an event, as opposed to the
event as exist externally to (outside of)
that person (Alfornon 2019).

3. Examples
◦Imagine you're looking at a red apple. In
phenomenological terms, rather than just describing
the apple as "red" or identifying its objective
properties, you would reflect on how the experience
of "redness" appears to you. How do you experience
the color in your consciousness? Is the "redness" the
same for everyone, or is it subjective?

4. Examples
◦Consider the experience of a headache.
Phenomenology would not be concerned with the
medical or neurological explanation of the headache.
Instead, it would explore what the experience of pain
feels like from the perspective of the person suffering.
What is it like to have pain, and how does the pain
manifest in your awareness and body?

5. Hermeneutics
- Hermeneutics is the theory and practice of
interpretation, particularly the interpretation of
texts, language, and meaning. Historically, it has
its roots in interpreting religious and legal texts,
but over time it has expanded to encompass the
interpretation of all forms of human expression,
including literature, art, history, and culture.

6. Hermeneutics
- In the study of literary texts, scholars frequently
adhere to a set of rules or a specific system on
which to base their interpretation (Alfornon
2019).
-The specific rules used to interpret and
understand a text are known collectively as
hermeneutics (Alfornon 2019).

7. Key contexts of Hermeneutics
- To understand a part of a text (or an experience), we
need to understand the whole, and vice versa.
-Rather than trying to eliminate prejudices,
hermeneutics aims to recognize them and see how they
shape our understanding.
-Interpretation is often deeply connected to the historical
and cultural context in which a text or experience
occurs.

8. Examples
-Interpreting a Classic Text (e.g., The Bible)
-Reading a Poem
-Understanding a Piece of Art
-Interpreting a Conversation
-Historical Interpretation

9. Hermeneutical Phenomenology
◦A research method used in qualitative research in the
fields of education and other human sciences. It arose out
of and remains closely tied to phenomenological
philosophy, a strand of continent philosophy.
Phenomenology becomes hermeneutical when its method
is taken to be interpretive (rather than purely descriptive
as a transcendental phenomenology) (Berroya 2017).

10. Hermeneutical Phenomenology
◦A framework that seeks to understand how
individuals interpret their lived experiences while
emphasizing that these interpretations are
always influenced by historical, cultural, and
social factors.
◦Understanding is both interpretive and experiential.

11. Martin Heidegger
◦Expanded phenomenology to address issues of
being and existence. His concept of Being-in-
the-world and the hermeneutic circle (the idea
that understanding always involves moving
back and forth between parts and whole)
significantly influenced the development of
hermeneutical phenomenology.

12. Examples
◦ Experience of Illness
◦ Consider someone who is diagnosed with a serious illness. The
phenomenological approach would explore how this person
experiences the illness on a sensory and emotional level—what it
feels like to be in pain, to be in the hospital, or to face the
unknown future. Hermeneutical phenomenology would then
interpret these lived experiences through the lens of how the
person makes sense of their illness: What meanings do they
attribute to it?

13. Examples
◦ The Experience of Grief
◦ A phenomenological approach would examine the lived
experience of grief—what it feels like to lose a loved one,
how emotions such as sadness or anger arise, and the
physical sensations involved. However, hermeneutical
phenomenology would go further by exploring how the
grieving person interprets their grief.
◦ For example: Ngilin

14. Examples
◦ Alex has just lost his mother after a long battle with illness.
Personal Meaning of the Loss
◦ Alex narrated that they have lost someone who was not just a
mother but also a best friend because she listens to their
problems and always their by their side.
◦ Interpretation
◦ A mother is a source of emotional support and if they are gone,
their children feel lost and feel that they are alone.

15. Applications of Hermeneutical
Phenomenology
Literary Criticism
Understanding texts involves not only
interpreting their words but also
understanding the lived experiences of
both the author and the reader.

16. Applications of Hermeneutical
Phenomenology
Psychology and Psychotherapy
In clinical settings, hermeneutical
phenomenology is used to understand the
lived experience of patients, especially through
their narratives and how these narratives
shape their identity and healing process

17. Applications of Hermeneutical
Phenomenology
Education
Hermeneutical phenomenology can
inform pedagogical practices by
emphasizing the importance of
interpretation in learning and
understanding knowledge in context.

18. Applications of Hermeneutical
Phenomenology
Theology
Hermeneutical phenomenology is deeply
rooted in the interpretation of sacred texts
and religious experiences, offering a method
to approach religious phenomena not just
through doctrine, but as lived and
experienced by individuals.