Hermeneutical

Phenomenology
Definition
• Is a research concerned with the life world
or human experience as it is lived, focusing
on illuminating details and seemingly
trivial aspects within experience that may
be taken for granted in our lives, with a
goal of creating meaning and achieving a
sense of understanding. (Laverty, 2003)
History
• Hermeneutical Phenomenology was given concept
by Martin Heidegger because of his disapproval of
the “Phenomenology” proposed by Edmund Husserl.
Although Husserl saw Heidegger as someone who
will follow his footsteps he changed the idea
(Laverty, 2003).
• His concept was supported and improved by his
student, Hans Georg – Gadamer, which was in his
book, “Truth and Method” and also Paul Ricoeur
which agreed that the variation of culture affects the
interpretation of a certain individual (Manen, 2011)
Key Concepts
Interpret
• Hermeneutics simply means to interpret
(Palmer, 1969) it also promotes human
potential for understanding the meaning
of language and to expand the possibilities
of human mind.
Hermeneutic Cycle
• This starts when a text changes into a
spoken language that is a mere expression
of oneself and then it is being interpreted
through; listening, observing, testing,
judging, challenging, reflecting, and
looking. (Regan, 2012)
Proponents
Martin Heidegger (1889-1976)
• Argues that all description is always already
interpretation. Every form of human awareness
is interpretive. Especially in Heidegger’s later
work he increasingly introduces poetry and art
as expressive works for interpreting the nature
of truth, language, thinking, dwelling, and being.
(Manen, 2011)
Hans Georg – Gadamer (1900-2002
• Continued the development of a hermeneutic
phenomenology, especially in his famous work
Truth and Method. In it, he carefully explores the
role of language, the nature of questioning, the
phenomenology of human conversation, and the
significance of prejudice, historicality and
tradition in the project of human understanding.
(Manen, 2011)
Paul Ricoeur (1913-2005)
• Also studied Husserl’s Phenomenology, and he too does not
subscribe to the transparency reflective cognito of Husserl. He
argues that meanings are not given directly to us, and that we
must therefore make a hermeneutic detour through the
symbolic apparatus of the culture. Ricoeur’s hermeneutic
phenomenology examines how human meanings are
deposited and mediated through myth, religion, art, and
language. He elaborates especially on the narrative function of
language, on the various uses of language such as storytelling,
and how narrativity and temporality interact and ultimately
return to the question of the meaning of being, the self and
self-identity. (Manen, 2011)
Strengths
• It is complex (Slowan and Bowe, 2014) and
it allows more applications to the
approach to provide wider understanding
on many scenarios.
• It engages, which makes it easier to
understand different scenarios.
Weaknesses
• It is informal because it is only
through the view of the researcher,
making it subjective. (Slowan and
Bowe, 2014)
• It does not develop explanations of
analyses. (Cresswell, 2007)