Abstract

In the early 1970s Ricoeur worked out a theory of hermeneutics which was motivated in large part by what he perceived to be inadequacies in the theory developed by Gadamer in Truth and Method. The purpose of this dissertation is to assess Ricoeur's contention that his critique of Gadamer demonstrates the need for a major reformulation of hermeneutics. ;Ricoeur argues that hermeneutics must not be conceived as a species of ontology, as it is in Gadamer, for there would then be no way to avoid an opposition between truth and method. I present a more sympathetic reading of Gadamer, according to which he is not opposed to method but rather is attempting to limit the role of method in the overall process of understanding. ;Ricoeur dissents from Gadamer's construal of hermeneutics as the theory of understanding in general, arguing that hermeneutics must instead be limited to the theory of the interpretation of texts. He justifies this shift on the grounds that writing differs fundamentally from speech in that it brings about the autonomy of discourse in relation to the intentions of the agent. My examination of this thesis reveals that autonomy is not the result of writing as such, but rather depends upon a variety of considerations pertaining to specific genres. ;Ricoeur, believing Gadamer's notion of objectivity to be too weak, defends a stronger notion by developing a theory of language, and introducing structural explanation into the interpretive process. However, the first approach does not sufficiently take into account the implications of Gadamer's theory of pre-understanding, and although the second approach is not without promise, the structuralist project would have to undergo a major reformulation before it could serve Ricoeur's purposes. ;While Ricoeur's attempt to reformulate Gadamer's conception of hermeneutics is, on the whole, unsuccessful, the analysis of his critique points to the need to revise Gadamer's position in some respects. In particular, both theorists place too much emphasis on general as opposed to regional hermeneutics. Rethinking the relation between these two varieties of hermeneutics is of assistance in identifying the most fruitful direction for further research