Critical Theory Emphasis

As interpretation is basically a translation of a given subject matter into a different register, it is dependent on what is translated.  It is bound to vary when certain types of text—such as sacred or literary ones—are transposed into other types, such as the exegesis of canonical texts or cognitive appraisals of literary texts; when cultures or cultural levels are translated into terms which allow an interchange between what is foreign and what is familiar; when intangible realities—such as God or humankind—which are neither textual nor scripted are translated into language for the purpose of grasping and subsequently comprehending them.  In each of these instances interpretation opens up a space between the subject matter and the register, which requires different forms of negotiation.

We shall begin by having a look at the current conflict of interpretation, and by addressing the question why interpretation has become an issue.  This inspection is meant to serve as a starting point for examining the rise of interpretation in the Judaic tradition of Midrash, in which the canonized text, endowed with authority, had to be translated into the life of the community.

We then shall be concerned with the emergence of modern hermeneutics as advocated by Friedrich Schleiermacher, who called the authority of the canon into question and marked a stage at which interpretation became self-reflective owing to the fact that the space between a foreign text and its understanding had to be bridged.  Such an effort gave birth to the hermeneutic circle, whose different structures and applications will come under close scrutiny, ranging from its inception through various nineteenth-century theories of history to psychoanalysis.

Thereafter we shall focus on another variable of interpretation, for which the hermeneutic circle is no longer applicable.  This holds true if something is non-textual, open-ended, or if something beyond the reach of one's own stance has to be made manageable.  The space between that has now to be negotiated requires a cybernetic looping from the known to the unknown in order to make the unknown bounce back on what is familiar.  Recursive looping, therefore, becomes a procedural operation when the open-endedness of a foreign culture or different systems, social, cultural, or otherwise has to be translated into an interpretive register.

If something immeasurable has to be converted into knowing--as undertaken by Franz Rosenzweig in his Star of Redemption—recursive looping will not suffice, not least as the immeasurable remains silent in face of all the attempts when being transposed into language or even into cognition.  For bridging the space between the immeasurable and a cognitive register, the traveling differential proves to be the appropriate interpretive procedure.  The differential carves up the immeasurable into infinitesimal increments of ever variable shapes, which can be grasped, although none of them is representative.

Finally, we shall deal with the question:  what makes the hermeneutical circle, the recursive loop and the traveling differential into basic operators for coping with the space between caused by any act of interpretation, through which a subject matter is translated into a different register.

A reader of relevant material will be provided.  Further required reading:  Franz Rosenzweig, The Star of Redemption, transl. William W. Hallo, University of Notre Dame Press 1975.