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(2004) Hermeneutics. method and methodology, Dordrecht, Springer.
The development of hermeneutical consciousness in classical antiquity and the middle ages
Thomas M. Seebohm
pp. 10-34
Introductions to hermeneutics usually start with an elucidation of the Greek words hermeneuein, hermeneia, and hermeneus. In Plato's Ion the poet is called the hermeneus, i.e., the interpreter of the gods, and the rhapsode is called the hermeneus of the poet. According to Plato, the hermeneus knows only what was said. He does not know what the truth is and he does not know whether truth lies in what was said by the gods. We find a similar distinction in Plato's Politikos and his Epinomis. The hermeneus provides us with an interpretation of the divine scriptures and the laws. Thus he knows only what is said or written, and not whether what has been said or written is true. Truth can only be grasped through sophia. The hermeneutical art and the mantic art, i.e., the art of interpreting signs as signs of what will happen in the future, are, according to the Timaios, the arts of the prophets. Thus it is tempting to speculate about the relations between the hermeneutical art, religious mythological prophecy, and poetry, but the Platonic writings themselves offer no further clues.
Publication details
DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4020-2618-8_1
Full citation:
Seebohm, T.M. (2004). The development of hermeneutical consciousness in classical antiquity and the middle ages, in Hermeneutics. method and methodology, Dordrecht, Springer, pp. 10-34.
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