Editing German philosophy (section)

====Hermeneutics====
{{Main|Hermeneutics}}
Hermeneutics is the philosophical theory and practice of interpretation and understanding.

Originally hermeneutics referred to the interpretation of texts, especially religious texts. In the 19th century, [[Friedrich Schleiermacher]] (1768–1834), [[Wilhelm Dilthey]] (1833–1911) and others expanded the discipline of hermeneutics beyond mere [[exegesis]] and turned it into a general humanistic discipline.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.stonybrook.edu/philosophy/research/ihde_6.html |title=Expanding Hermeneutics |access-date=2010-09-10 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604190525/http://www.stonybrook.edu/philosophy/research/ihde_6.html |archive-date=2011-06-04 }}</ref> Schleiermacher wondered whether there could be a hermeneutics that was not a collection of pieces of ad hoc advice for the solution of specific problems with text interpretation but rather a "general hermeneutics," which dealt with the "art of understanding" as such, which pertained to the structure and function of understanding wherever it occurs. Later in the 19th century, Dilthey began to see possibilities for continuing Schleiermacher's general hermeneutics project as a "general methodology of the humanities and social sciences".<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.mac.edu/faculty/richardpalmer/relevance.html |title=Richard e. Palmer: Hermeneutics and the Disciplines |access-date=2010-09-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928141532/http://www.mac.edu/faculty/richardpalmer/relevance.html |archive-date=2007-09-28 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In the 20th century, hermeneutics took an '[[ontological turn]]'. Martin Heidegger's ''Being and Time'' fundamentally transformed the discipline. No longer was it conceived of as being about understanding linguistic communication, or providing a methodological basis for the human sciences – as far as Heidegger was concerned, hermeneutics is ontology, dealing with the most fundamental conditions of man's being in the world.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2016/entries/hermeneutics/|title=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|first=C.|last=Mantzavinos|editor-first=Edward N.|editor-last=Zalta|date=22 June 2016|publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University|access-date=22 March 2018|via=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy}}</ref> The Heideggerian conception of hermeneutics was further developed by Heidegger's pupil [[Hans-Georg Gadamer]] (1900–2002), in his book ''[[Truth and Method]]''.