The Hermeneutic Circle Helps to Accumulate Knowledge and Understanding： An Empirical Example of Public Health Nurses＇ Experiences of Supporting Multiple-birth Families

In phenomenological research, the reduction is a complex reflective attentiveness required for phenomenological understanding. A literature review revealed that little research has been done on health care professionals working with multiple-birth families. Van Manen＇s method has been variously used in nursing science. The aim of this article is to describe the hermeneutic circle and the method of reduction, providing an empirical example of the experiences of public health nurses working with multiple-birth families. The data consisted of open interviews （n = 38） with three participant groups--parents of twins, nurses, and family care workers--written output from them and the researcher＇s notes. The phenomena of the lifeworld of multiple-birth families as described by nurses can be expressed as： ＂recognizing the strain＂, ＂targeting special needs＂, and ＂lightening the load of daily life＂. Reduction enables in-depth phenomenological hermeneutic research, helping to see the research stages both as parts and as a whole and the hermeneutic circle that accumulates understanding. Social and health care professionals need to listen more to parents＇ voices to better understand the needs and situation of multiple-birth families. More education and training is needed to empower parents of twins. This article can stimulate discussion on phenomenology, hermeneutic research and reduction.

Hermeneutical Engineering of Requirements

The Software Engineering aims to develop, within the deadlines and costs established, quality software and that meets the needs of its users. To be made the definition of what the software should do (to establish its purpose), it included the execution of activity the Requirements Engineering, where the context of software to be developed is identified, examined and specified. All other activities of software development depend primarily on this activity. However, there is a problem increasingly in evidence: understand the context of software to be developed. This article aims to present a proposal to face this problem through the use of specific hermeneutical methods for the Requirements Engineering, which will help the software development team understand the original needs of the business to be attended. The basic idea is to produce a hermeneutic specification acceptable, which will be used for the extraction and the specification of the software requirements to be developed. In essence, the hermeneutics focuses on the true interpretation and understanding in contextualized of what is intended to know. The Hermeneutical Engineering of Requirements comes to be the result of the adequacy of methods hermeneutical to assist, specifically the activity of Engineering of Requirements.

Emmanuel Levinas： Hermeneutics, Ethics, and Art

This article draws attention to the subject of art in Levinas＇s thinking through consideration of his philosophical language, which is aided by images, metaphors, and idioms of art. The primary image that will accompany our discussion throughout this article is the image of art as shadow, which Levinas incorporates into the title of the essay which he devotes to the subject of art： ＂Reality and Its Shadow＂. Thinking about art from the perspective of Levinas means thinking about image and essence, about which is visible before us and which we cannot see, and about the different ways in which art can express itself. Levinas＇s theory of interpretation is grounded in and guided by the field of ethics and addresses the ethical aspects of interpretation. Levinas approaches the discourse of interpretation not out of na＇ivet6 but rather based on a deep understanding of the field of hermeneutics, with all its shortcomings and challenges. Thinking of hermeneutics from an ethical perspective is no mere addition to the discussion but the very crux of the matter. An attempt to understand interpretation as an act of exposing the truth encounters serious philosophical and logical difficulties, whether we are seeking to discover the intention of the artist, the intent of a specific work of art, or a hidden form within the work itself. The engagement with Levinas＇s theory of hermeneutics, however, raises a different question which is the focus of this article： Can Levinas＇s theory of interpretation be applied to the realm of artistic creation, and if so, how？ This question is sharpened by the difficulties that Levinas himself poses to his readers by designating art as the ＂shadow＂ of reality and drawing attention to the egoistic dimension of the artistic act.

Exploring a Deep Analysis Method for “Click-Stream” Information from the Perspective of the Flow of Bidirectional Value of Customer Relations Based on Ricoeur's Hermeneutic Theory

Click-streams of online shopping are the tracks/trails of interactions between a customer and a vendor.We observe that it is of great importance both in theory and practice to explore a deep analysis method for analyzing click-stream information of an individual customer in a specific transaction for understanding the bidirectional value transfer within the machine-human interaction of an online store and for its personalization.We analyze the significance,the hierarchical structure and the characteristics of click-stream information and propose that Ricoeur's hermeneutic theory be the foundation of forming such a deep analysis method.Then we use the empirical context information of the click-stream to improve the naive interpretation put forward by Ricoeur.Moreover,we apply the Grounded Theory to extend the deep analysis of Ricoeur's theory of textual interpretation.The improved theory fits well with the needs of interpretation and the analysis of click-stream information.We exemplify and show the feasibility of this analysis method by using data collected(a single case)from a large study of human-computer interaction.

Analysis methods in hermeneutic phenomenological research:interpretive profiles

Objective:To describe the development of interpretive profiles for a hermeneutic phenomenological research study.Methods:literature review was conducted to identify research that has used interpretive profiles.An initial interpretive profile was constructed.Results:The final outcome was an interpretive profile that contained a case summary and addressed the aims of the researcher’s study.The interpretive profile contained background material,coded excerpts,and interpretive comments.Conclusions:Interpretive profiles can assist emerging scholars in describing self-world relations and experiential variations within and across participants.Interpretive profiles can facilitate the writing of dissertations and manuscripts since the data is systematically archived and easily retrievable.

Hermeneutical Theodolite of Requirements: Evaluating and Revealing the Quality Grades of Software Requirements and of Domain of Application

Throughout the development of software, during Requirements Engineering activities, software requirements dynamically and constantly evolve and mature from an “identified” stage to an “approved” stage. This evolution takes place individually for each requirement, in a very particular way, because it depends on the level of understanding that the requirements engineer reaches in relation to it. How, then, to monitor the evolution of each software requirement? How to know the quality of each software requirement? How to measure the level of understanding and difficulty that the requirements engineer has in relation to each software requirement? This paper aims to present a proposal to answer these questions through the use of an instrument developed specifically to assess and reveal the quality grades of each software requirement and also to assess and reveal that the levels of understanding and of difficulty of the requirements engineer is in relation to each software requirement. This instrument was called the Hermeneutical Theodolite of Requirements, which also can be applied to evaluate that the levels of understanding and of difficulty of the requirements engineer is in relation to the domain of application, essential input artifact and primordial to the specification of the requirements of software.

Hermeneutics in Nursing Studies: An Integrative Review

Aim: To review nursing studies using hermeneutics as a methodology in different dimensions including practice, education, and administration. Background: Hermeneutics is a qualitative research methodology that focuses on interpreting the meanings of experiences in individual’s life. It is a major philosophy and research method in the humanities, human sciences and arts disciplines with a central goal of describing people’s experiences. Data sources: A review of relevant literature using electronics databases including EBSCO, SCOPUS, MEDLINE, CINAHL, and PUBMED. Review methods: Using an integrative method, peer-reviewed research and discussion papers published between 2013 and 2018 and listed in the CINAHL, SCOPUS, Science Direct, PubMed and Google Scholar databases were reviewed. Findings: A final review of 13 studies that used hermeneutic phenomenology as a philosophical background and research methods was done. Conclusions: Hermeneutic phenomenology has been used as a qualitative method in numerous nursing studies with different domain including practice, education and administration. The ability of the nurses to make decisions related to implementing evidence in education, practice, research, and admiration is reliant on the clinical expertise of the nurse. The review of the literature identified that the capability to correlate research findings to these three categories in nursing and the willingness and inclination to improve current practice were crucial factors for knowledge translation.

Amo’s Hermeneutics and Hegel’s Historical Prejudices Against Africa

During the lifetime of Anton Wilhelm Amos(ca.1700-ca.1755),the hermeneutics served not only interpreting and understanding of philosophical contexts,but also to overcome the prejudices and the underlying spirit of partiality with them.As one of the first modern theorist and systematician of hermeneutics,Amo dealt intensively with the prejudice problem.According to him,any prejudice is a mistake of the mind.Generalizing,Amo claims that prejudices are not a consequence of a false knowledge,but they arise by the lack of knowledge par excellence and are therefore in contradiction with reason.Amo sees the task of hermeneutics to counteract the prejudices inherent contradictions.With regard to the historical hermeneutics,he recommends to look at the past,not by selective or specific moments,but in its generality,in order to avoid contradictory and even false interpretations.But he acknowledges that only generalists as polyvalent historians of philosophy with an interdisciplinary mindset and multilingualism knowledge have this ability to general thinking.It will be examined more closely in this presentation whether Hegel can meet the hermeneutic claim within the meaning of Amo because of his pessimistic-ridiculous and contradictory prejudices about Africa.Finally,the question will be whether Hegel perhaps confounded his mental projections with the real history of Africa why he did not succeed to identify the real causes of the problems of this continent,and to describe their immediate consequences objectively.

An Interpretation of Danto’s the End-of-Art Thesis from the Perspective of Gadamerian Hermeneutics

Ontology of art,philosophy of art history,and aesthetics make up Danto’s integrated philosophy of art.The end-of-art thesis is the essence of Danto’s philosophy of art history.As an analytical philosopher,Danto’s philosophy resembles Hans-Georg Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics in the viewpoints concerning art and history in some ways but differs in others.Danto’s concepts of history show different tendencies in analytical philosophy of history and philosophy of art history.On the one hand,his philosophy of history conforms to Gadamer’s history of effect for the denial of the objectivity and certainty of historical truth.On the other hand,his philosophy of art history fundamentally differs from Gadamer’s relativism by asserting“the end of art”therefore generating a Hegelian law in art history.By using the strategy of“historical narrative”in his philosophy of art history,which is also in accordance with Gadamerian tradition,Danto aims to reconcile his self-contradictory historical views and to justify his philosophical position both as an“essentialist”and a“historicist”.

A Review of G.G.Shpet’s Hermeneutic-Phenomenology

Based on the analysis of the philosophical source and the epistemological roots of G.G.Shpet’s hermeneutic-phenomenology,this article states that G.G.Shpet,as an important Russian representative of the turn“from ontology to epistemology”in the philosophy of language,not only inherited Husserlian phenomenology,but also combined phenomenology and hermeneutics together as to develop a unique form of hermeneutic-phenomenology,which is based on Husserl’s phenomenology,deeply influenced by Dilthey’s hermeneutics,and inherited Humboldt’s philosophy of language to some extend as well.Besides,the author points out that some of G.G.Shpet’s thoughts were also inherited from Slavophile and Moscow school of metaphysics.

Questioning to Hesitation rather than Hesitating to Question： A Pragmatic Hermeneutic Perspective on Educational Inquiry

Utilizing arguments imbedded in the pragmatist and hermeneutic traditions, the conclusion emerges that genuinely understanding opposing points of view requires a penetrating and sustained questioning process that finds relief only when the justificatory background material of the other nibbles at the certainty of one＇s own position. The implications of the edict that one ought to question to hesitation are then explored, namely, that （1） it suggests what kind of questioning is the right kind of qteestioning, （2） it suggests a redefinition of what counts as ＂respect for persons,＂ and （3） it challenges the common assumption that the efficacy of communal inquiry is self-fulfilling and self-regulating, and suggests, by contrast, that facilitators ought to be far more prepared to engage in questioning to hesitation.

“Fusion of Horizons”——Analysis of Fortress Besieged From the Perspective of Gadamer’s Hermeneutics

According to Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics,two processes of“fusion of horizons”can be described as:the“horizons”of the text,the translator,and the target reader are“fused”together.Based upon the“fusion of horizons”of the hermeneutics proposed by Hans-Georg Gadamer,a leading German Continental philosopher of the twentieth century,this article aims to analyze English version of Wei Cheng written by Qian Zhongshu and then cooperatively translated by Jeanne Kelly and Nathan K.Mao.It is found that the translator can give new meaning to the text through“interpretation”,and on that basis,each interpretation of the text means a new process of“fusion of horizons”.

Hermeneutical Elicitation of Requirements: A Technical Perspective to Improve the Conception of the Software Requirements

In order to develop quality software that meets the originals needs of its users, it is necessary to perform the Requirements Engineering, so that the software context to be developed is identified, examined and specified properly. However, there is a problem that is increasingly in debate: the difficulty in understanding and establishing the purpose of the software to be developed, as pointed out by important researches in the area, such as the Chaos Report, which indicates that only 29% of software projects are successful, and the Software Engineering Institute, which points out software requirements as a critical factor for the success of software engineering and that deficiencies in this dimension are the main causes of software project failures. This article presents a proposal to address this problem through the use of the Hermeneutical Elicitation of Requirements, which is the conceptual adequacy of some hermeneutical methods in a technical approach that assists the requirements engineer to conceive better of the software requirements. In this way, the software engineer will be better able to develop the software to better meet the needs of its end users and sponsors.

The Rehabilitation of Rhetoric in Gadamer’s Philosophical Hermeneutics

The interrelation of rhetoric and hermeneutics is rooted in our existential historicity and linguisticity.Rhetorical competence and education are integral approaches to a better understanding of being-in-the-world.Inspired by Platonic dialectic and Aristotle’s phronesis,Gadamer has redefined true rhetoric and revived the epistemological and ethical dimensions in rhetoric in his philosophical hermeneutics.This article investigates four aspects in Gadamer’s rehabilitation of rhetoric.First,rhetoric as ethics.Rhetoric transcends the dualism of self-other,subject-object through its dialogical structure,and is composed of understanding and application as a whole in hermeneutic experience.Second,rhetoric as discursive knowledge.Rhetoric is oriented to eine Sache(reality)itself,and is endowed with primitive experience of truth.Its own validity as discursive knowledge is not confined to scientific methodology,and is essential for natural and human sciences.Third,rhetoric as component of linguisticity.The ubiquity of rhetoric makes it an integral component of linguisticity.The capacity to use metaphors,symbols,allegory is an important aspect of our linguisticity,revealing the rhetorical quality in language.Lastly,hermeneutic theories inspired by rhetoric.Gadamer’s rehabilitation of rhetoric is beneficial for the development of philosophical hermeneutics and humanist education in modern world.

Moral Creativity in Paul Ricoeur’s Poetic Hermeneutics

Inclusiveness is a major feature of Paul Ricoeur’s thought.The various stages of his thought development penetrate each other and realize the grafting of hermeneutics and phenomenology,hermeneutics and poetics of will.Based on that meaning comes from symbolism,Ricoeur turns to the philosophical dimension of doubt and trust by means of poetic hermeneutics.Starting from breaking the absolute status of cogito since Descartes,Ricoeur proposes the relationship between symbolism and language from the level of reflection.This kind of creative interpretation not only gives symbolism poetic significance,but also realizes the grafting of hermeneutics and poetics,and finally realizes the ontological sense of reinterpreting the existence of self in the existence of the world through moral creativity.

Hermeneutical Analysis of Narrative Approach in MacIntyre＇s Moral Enquiry

Alasdair Maclntyre identifies three types of moral research programs in a narrative approach in his works. In the view of hermeneutics, each of the three research programs has a narrative structure： Encyclopedia is a narrative structure with the belief in rational progress; Genealogy constructs its own narrative through the struggle with the past; Thomism tradition is a middle way of the previous two by pursuing truth from the history and particularity, thus avoiding the once-and-for-all rationality of Encyclopedia and the once-and-for-all relativism of genealogy. Narrative, as a living tradition, comprises of tradition-constituted one and tradition-constitutive one. The former is the given narrative we inherit from our predecessors, and the latter is the hermeneutical reinterpretation or reassessment of a tradition, thus showing the continuity among past, present, and future. Through the dialogical narrative especially according to Gadamer＇s I-Thou encounter, MacIntyre achieves a kind of traditional consensus between two traditions through a ＂common language＂ and ＂fusion of horizons.＂ MacIntyre＇s theory is an account of the subjective condition of narrative quest for the truth, which is a good way to keep the integrity of thought in the modern alienation and deconstmction.

Parallel Studies and Hermeneutic Variation

To understand parallel studies from the view of hermeneutics would be a helpful way to break through their developmental predicament.Theoretically,parallel studies have clear connotation of hermeneutics.Meanwhile,the practices of seeking common hermeneutics between literary works and theories,and the hermeneutic approach highlight the essence of parallel studies.Hermeneutic variation of parallel studies caused by the heterogeneity of different cultures falls into two types:unconscious hermeneutic variation and conscious hermeneutic variation.Moreover,hermeneutic variation might cause the aphasic problems,or become the potential power of cultural innovation.

Metaphor From the Perspective of Gadamer’s Philosophical Hermeneutics

As the essence of philosophical discourse,metaphor exists in various philosophical thoughts.This paper is an attempt to reveal the role that metaphor plays in the process of seeking truth,which is the ultimate goal of philosophy,by analyzing the origin of metaphor,the relationship between metaphor and philosophy as well as the use of metaphor in Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics.

A Comparison of Three Chinese Versions of Hamlet's Excerpt Under the Perspective of Hermeneutic Motion Theory

The Hermeneutic approach to translation has been widely concerned since it was first introduced by George Steiner in1975. Under the guidance of hermeneutics theory, this thesis takes three Chinese versions of Hamlet's excerpts as the research ob-jects, trying to analyze the translation from Steiner's four specific Hermeneutic Motions of"trust","aggression","incorporation"and"restitution". Therefrom, we can obtain a clear understanding of how the subjectivity of the translator affects the whole processof translation activities.

The Sinicization of Hermeneutics:A Universal Conception of Classical Hermeneutics

We need to start from the approach to classical annotation of jingxue(Conflician classical studies),with its long history and experience,and to make use of the fine resources of contemporary Western hermeneutics,so as to build a universal classical hermeneutics that will bridge Chinese and foreign thought in the past and the present.This is a necessary path to opening up and innovating China's fine traditional culture.To carry out this important academic project of universal classical hermeneutics,it is necessary to gain an in-depth understanding of the developmental history of Western hermeneutics and contemporary philosophical hermeneutics,and especially to fully grasp Gadamer’s hermeneutical thought and theories and their contemporary development.In addition,it is necessary to comprehensively organize the vast experience and long history of jingxue and its branches,such as exegesis,textual studies,philology,bibliography and hermeneutics,and to take the modernization of jingxue as a starting point for establishing a type of universal classical hermeneutics that is different from traditional Chinese jingxue but also superior to Western hermeneutics.Only in this way can we base ourselves on China,learn from foreign countries,excavate history and grasp the contemporary,so as to fully reflect the "Chinese style and manner"and characteristics in disciplinary,academic and discourse systems.