The Relational Properties Approach to a Theory of Interpretation :: Gadamer Philosophy Philosophical Essays

The Relational Properties Approach to a Theory of Interpretation ABSTRACT: This paper reexamines the central thesis of Gadamer’s theory of interpretation that objectivity is not a suitable ideal for understanding a text, historical event or cultural phenomenon because there exists no one correct interpretation of such phenomena. Because Gadamer fails to make clear the grounds for this claim, I consider three possible arguments. The first, predominant in the secondary literature, is built on the premise that we cannot surpass our historically situated prejudgments. I reject this argument as insufficient. I also reject a second argument concerning the heuristics of understanding. I then articulate a third argument that the object of understanding changes according to the conditions under which it is grasped. I appeal to the notion of relational properties to make sense of this claim and to defend it against two objections: (i) that it conflates meaning and significance; and (ii) that it is saddled with an indefensible relativism. Gadamer's theory of philosophical hermeneutics amounts to a sustained argument for a view that one might call "anti-objectivism" or "interpretive pluralism." (1) This view holds that in understanding a text, historical event, cultural phenomenon or perhaps anything at all, objectivity is not a suitable ideal because there does not exist any one correct interpretation of the phenomenon under investigation. In Gadamer's words, "understanding is not merely a reproductive but always a productive activity as well" (G 280; E 296); it is a "fusion of horizons" of the past and present, objective and subjective (G 289; E 306). At the same time, Gadamer wants to steer clear of an "anything-goes" relativism. In other words, in Gadamer's view, understanding is a process that invites and even demands a plurality of interpretations, but not at the expense of giving up criteria that distinguish right ones from wrong ones. What exactly are Gadamer's grounds for denying the existence of a uniquely correct interpretation of a text, object, or event? I begin by showing the inadequacy of two arguments for his position. I then turn to a third more promising argument that objectivity is not possible because the object of understanding is not determinate, but rather constituted anew by each act of understanding. My goal in this paper is to provide a fuller justification for the third argument and thereby defend Gadamer's position. I do so by reformulating this third argument in terms of relational properties so as to establish that the knower's situatedness plays, as Gadamer himself insists, a positive, constitutive role in the process of understanding. The Relational Properties Approach to a Theory of Interpretation :: Gadamer Philosophy Philosophical Essays The Relational Properties Approach to a Theory of Interpretation ABSTRACT: This paper reexamines the central thesis of Gadamer’s theory of interpretation that objectivity is not a suitable ideal for understanding a text, historical event or cultural phenomenon because there exists no one correct interpretation of such phenomena. Because Gadamer fails to make clear the grounds for this claim, I consider three possible arguments. The first, predominant in the secondary literature, is built on the premise that we cannot surpass our historically situated prejudgments. I reject this argument as insufficient. I also reject a second argument concerning the heuristics of understanding. I then articulate a third argument that the object of understanding changes according to the conditions under which it is grasped. I appeal to the notion of relational properties to make sense of this claim and to defend it against two objections: (i) that it conflates meaning and significance; and (ii) that it is saddled with an indefensible relativism. Gadamer's theory of philosophical hermeneutics amounts to a sustained argument for a view that one might call "anti-objectivism" or "interpretive pluralism." (1) This view holds that in understanding a text, historical event, cultural phenomenon or perhaps anything at all, objectivity is not a suitable ideal because there does not exist any one correct interpretation of the phenomenon under investigation. In Gadamer's words, "understanding is not merely a reproductive but always a productive activity as well" (G 280; E 296); it is a "fusion of horizons" of the past and present, objective and subjective (G 289; E 306). At the same time, Gadamer wants to steer clear of an "anything-goes" relativism. In other words, in Gadamer's view, understanding is a process that invites and even demands a plurality of interpretations, but not at the expense of giving up criteria that distinguish right ones from wrong ones. What exactly are Gadamer's grounds for denying the existence of a uniquely correct interpretation of a text, object, or event? I begin by showing the inadequacy of two arguments for his position. I then turn to a third more promising argument that objectivity is not possible because the object of understanding is not determinate, but rather constituted anew by each act of understanding. My goal in this paper is to provide a fuller justification for the third argument and thereby defend Gadamer's position. I do so by reformulating this third argument in terms of relational properties so as to establish that the knower's situatedness plays, as Gadamer himself insists, a positive, constitutive role in the process of understanding.

Readers Have Responded Differently to Being Told That the Story Happened Long Ago. How Do You Respond?

Readers have responded differently to being told that the story happened long ago. How do you respond?Initially ‘The Eve of St Agnes’ is set in a medieval period ‘long ago’, which you can determine from the distinct use of archaic language; ideas of chivalry and patriarchy are evoked at the use of this time period thus the ongoing theme of the supernatural, demonstrated by Madeline’s firm belief in The eve of St Agnes, serves to induce in the reader thoughts of an alternate immortal life, an idea that is further established through the way in which Madeline and Porphyro are able to escape the castle full of people who would kill and abandon the couple, which one would think to be impossible.Furthermore Keats’ describes the two focal characters as ‘phantoms’ of which one interpretation could be that life goes on and that death is a mere inconvenience, which again further adds to the concept of immortality in the poem. The references to supernatural folklore; ‘elfin grot’ and ‘faery land’ conceptualise the idea of Porphyro and Madeline idealistically untouchable. However, the final stanza, in which the beadsman dies, destroys the immortality image that Keats had previously built up; reminding the reader that death is for everyone.Furthermore, this idealism entering into realism is perhaps indicative of awaking from a dreamlike state in which the reader becomes more aware of the danger that Madeline is maybe in. Linking to this fear of Madeline that is newly instilled in the reader is the abrupt and ironic dismissal of love after the forty first stanza, which demonstrates the idea that love itself was ‘long ago’.The fact that previously in the Eve of St Agnes Porphyro’s heart was ‘on fire’ for Madeline leading him to risk his capture and death for her initially provided a positive image for the reader allowing one to trust his character, however the fort y first stanza utilizes a significant amount of cadaverous imagery through the Baron ‘dreaming of many a woe’ and the idea of Angela dying with ‘meagre face deform’ which simply dismisses the whole theme of love and is perhaps representative of Madeline’s resignation to her fate – either run away with Porphyro or stay and be disgraced and abandoned by her family – that is typical of a patriarchal society. The abruptness with which love is dismissed is a dramatic conclusion to the poem that leaves a foreboding atmosphere as to Madeline’s fate, and it is this ‘[ash] old’ atmosphere that perhaps attempts to capture the suppressed and ‘nightmar’d’ existence that women experienced in medieval times owing to being treated as possessions by men, another interpretation is that Madeline and Porphyro’s ‘[fleeing] into the storm’ is them escaping these social conventions leaving behind th e ‘dark, cold’ world. The baron’s dreams of ‘witch and demon and large coffin-work’ are perhaps symbolic of Madeline and Porphyro as characters, foretelling the formidable end that is to come to the couple, or more generally maybe the failure of escaping from patriarchal society. The negative outcome of her escape with Porphyro serves to contradict the so called escape that the two had from the castle. And in turn this is suggestive that whilst one can attempt to escape social confines and convictions – such as St Agnes herself attempted – these attempts always fail eventually, much in the way that St Agnes was later burned for heresy.

The Enormous Bronze Age Shang Dynasty Capital of Yin

Anyang is the name of a modern city in Henan Province of eastern China that contains the ruins of Yin, the massive capital city of the late Shang Dynasty (1554 -1045 BC). In 1899, hundreds of ornately carved tortoise shells and ox scapulas called oracle bones were found in Anyang. Full-scale excavations began in 1928, and since then, investigations by Chinese archaeologists have revealed nearly 25 square kilometers (~10 square miles) of the enormous capital city. Some of the English-language scientific literature refers to the ruins as Anyang, but its Shang Dynasty residents knew it as Yin. Founding Yin Yinxu (or the Ruins of Yin in Chinese) has been identified as the capital Yin described in Chinese records such as the Shi Ji, based on the inscribed oracle bones which (among other things) document the activities of the Shang royal house. Yin was founded as a small residential area on the south bank of the Huan River, a tributary of the Yellow River of central China. When it was founded, an earlier settlement called Huanbei (sometimes referred to as Huayuanzhuang) was located on the north side of the river. Huanbei was a Middle Shang settlement built around 1350 BC, and by 1250 covered an area of approximately 4.7 sq km (1.8 sq km), surrounded by a rectangular wall.​ An Urban City But in 1250 BC, Wu Ding, the 21st king of the Shang Dynasty {ruled 1250-1192 BC], made Yin his capital. Within 200 years, Yin had expanded into an enormous urban center, with an estimated population of somewhere between 50,000 and 150,000 people. The ruins include more than 100 pounded earth palace foundations, numerous residential neighborhoods, workshops and production areas, and cemeteries. The urban core of Yinxu is the palace-temple district at the core called Xiaotun, covering approximately 70 hectares (170 acres) and located at a bend in the river: it may have been separated from the rest of the city by a ditch. More than 50 rammed earth foundations were found here in the 1930s, representing several clusters of buildings which had been built and rebuilt during the citys use. Xiaotun had an elite residential quarter, administrative buildings, altars, and an ancestral temple. Most of the 50,000 oracle bones were found in pits in Xiaotun, and there were also numerous sacrificial pits containing human skeletons, animals, and chariots. Residential Workshops Yinxu is broken into several specialized workshop areas that contain evidence of jade artifact production, the bronze casting of tools and vessels, pottery making, and bone and turtle shell working. Multiple, massive bone and bronze working areas have been discovered, organized into a network of workshops that were under the control of a hierarchical lineage of families. Specialized neighborhoods in the city included Xiamintun and Miaopu, where bronze casting took place; Beixinzhuang where bone objects were processed; and Liujiazhuang North where serving and storage pottery vessels were made. These areas were both residential and industrial: for example, Liujiazhuang contained ceramic production debris and kilns, interspersed with rammed-earth house foundations, burials, cisterns, and other residential features. A major road led from Liujiazhuang to the Xiaotun palace-temple district. Liujiazhuang was likely a lineage-based settlement; its clan name was found inscribed on a bronze seal and bronze vessels in an associated cemetery. Death and Ritual Violence at Yinxu Thousands of tombs and pits containing human remains have been found at Yinxu, from massive, elaborate royal burials, aristocratic graves, common graves, and bodies or body parts in sacrificial pits. Ritual mass killings particularly associated with royalty were a common part of Late Shang society. From the oracle bone records, during Yins 200-year occupation more than 13,000 humans and many more animals were sacrificed. There were two types of state-supported human sacrifice documented in the oracle bone records found at Yinxu. Renxun or human companions referred to family members or servants killed as retainers at the death of an elite individual. They were often buried with elite goods in individual coffins or group tombs. Rensheng or human offerings were massive groups of people, often mutilated and decapitated, buried in large groups for the most part lacking grave goods. Rensheng and Renxun Archaeological evidence for human sacrifice at Yinxu is found in pits and tombs found across the entire city. In residential areas, sacrificial pits are small in scale, mostly animal remains with human sacrifices relatively rare, most with only one to three victims per event, although occasionally they had as many as 12. Those discovered at the royal cemetery or in the palace-temple complex have included up to several hundred human sacrifices at once. Rensheng sacrifices were made up of outsiders, and are reported in the oracle bones to have come from at least 13 different enemy groups. Over half of the sacrifices were said to have come from Qiang, and the largest groups of human sacrifices reported on the oracle bones always included some Qiang people. The term Qiang may have been a category of enemies located west of Yin rather than a particular group; little grave goods have been found with the burials. Systematic osteological analysis of the sacrifices has not been completed as of yet, but stable isotope studies among and between sacrificial victims were reported by bioarchaeologist Christina Cheung and colleagues in 2017; they found that the victims were indeed nonlocals. It is possible that rensheng sacrifice victims may have been slaves before their deaths; oracle bone inscriptions document the enslavement of the Qiang people and chronicling their involvement in productive labor. Inscriptions and Understanding Anyang Over 50,000 inscribed oracle bones and several dozen bronze-vessel inscriptions dated to the Late Shang period (1220-1050 BC) have been recovered from Yinxu. These documents, together with later, secondary texts, were used by British archaeologist Roderick Campbell to document in detail the political network at Yin. Yin was, like most Bronze Age cities in China, a kings city, built to the order of the king as a created center of political and religious activity. Its core was a royal cemetery and palace-temple area. The king was the lineage leader, and responsible for leading rituals involving his ancient ancestors and other living relations in his clan. In addition to reporting political events such as the numbers of sacrificial victims and to whom they were dedicated, the oracle bones report the kings personal and state concerns, from a toothache to crop failures to divination. Inscriptions also refer to schools at Yin, perhaps places for literacy training, or perhaps where trainees were taught to maintain divination records. Bronze Technology The Late Shang dynasty was at the apex of bronze making technology in China. The process used high-quality molds and cores, which were pre-cast to prevent shrinkage and breaking during the process. The molds were made of a fairly low percentage of clay and an accordingly high percentage of sand, and they were fired before use to produce a high resistance to thermal shock, low thermal conductivity, and a high porosity for adequate ventilation during casting. Several large bronze foundry sites have been found. The largest identified to date is the Xiaomintun site, covering a total area of over 5 ha (12 ac), up to 4 ha (10 ac) of which have been excavated. Archaeology in Anyang To date, there have been 15 seasons of excavations by Chinese authorities since 1928, including the Academia Sinica, and its successors the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. A joint Chinese-American project conducted excavations at Huanbei in the 1990s. Yinxu was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2006. Sources Campbell Roderick  B, Li Z, He Y, and Jing Y. 2011. Consumption, exchange and production at the Great Settlement Shang: bone-working at Tiesanlu, Anyang. Antiquity 85(330):1279-1297.Cheung C, Jing Z, Tang J, Weston DA, and Richards MP. 2017. Diets, social roles, and geographical origins of sacrificial victims at the royal cemetery at Yinxu, Shang China: New evidence from stable carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur isotope analysis. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 48:28-45.Flad R. 2016. Urbanism as technology in early China. Archaeological Research in Asia 2016/09/29.Jin ZY, Wu YJ, Fan AC, Yue ZW, Li G, Li SH, and Yan LF. 2015. Luminescence study of the initial, pre-casting firing temperatures of clay mould and core used for bronze casting at Yinxu (13c. BC~11c. BC). Quaternary Geochronology 30:374-380.Smith AT. 2010. The evidence for scribal training at Anyang. In: Li F, and Prager Banner D, editors. Writing and Literacy in Early China. Seattle: University of Washington Press. p 172 -208.Sun W-D, Zhang L-P, Guo J, Li C-Y, Jiang Y-H, Zartman RE, and Zhang Z-F. 2016. Origin of the mysterious Yin-Shang bronzes in China indicated by lead isotopes. Scientific Reports 6:23304.Wei S, Song G, and He Y. 2015. The identification of binding agent used in late Shang Dynasty turquoise-inlayed bronze objects excavated in Anyang. Journal of Archaeological Science 59:211-218.Zhang H, Merrett DC, Jing Z, Tang J, He Y, Yue H, Yue Z, and Yang DY. 2016. Osteoarchaeological Studies of Human Systemic Stress of Early Urbanization in Late Shang at Anyang, China. PLOS ONE 11(4):e0151854.Zhang H, Merrett DC, Jing Z, Tang J, He Y, Yue H, Yue Z, and Yang DY. 2017. Osteoarthritis, labour division, and occupational specialization of the Late Shang China - insights from Yinxu (ca. 1250-1046 B.C.). PLOS ONE 12(5):e0176329.