Abstract

Betti’s account of meaning is spiritual. Betti follows in Hegel’s footsteps and explores the objectivations of the spirit, which he calls representative forms. The interpretation of these forms must capture their meaning from inside and refrain from attributing them an extraneous meaning. Betti invokes, in this sense, the classic hermeneutic canon Sensus non est inferendus, sed efferendus. Interpretation is however not a mere transmission of content from the text to the interpreter but a spiritual union between the interpreter and the objectivation of the spirit. This spiritual nature of meaning makes up the originality of Betti.