My little Gnudren,
Old Gnu has just completed a reading week. It has been a time of reflection and taking stock. He has focussed on the study of Hermeneutics.
Mr. Encyclo-Stanford Pedia tell us that: Hermeneutics…. the methodology of interpretation, is concerned with problems that arise when dealing with meaningful human actions and the products of such actions, most importantly texts. As a methodological discipline, it offers a toolbox for efficiently treating problems of the interpretation of human actions, texts and other meaningful material.
Put bluntly, when you read/hear a statement, whether from centuries past or in the present, you have to understand that the person who made those statements may have different values, understanding of the world, cultural heritage and baggage to you. If you seek to understand their ‘horizons’ you will get a more accurate understanding of what they are saying. Put even more bluntly: you have to understand where they’re coming from, Guv.
It seems to have gone strangely quiet in London at the moment. Old Gnu likes to think it’s because the very important people there have decided to follow his example and have a reading week studying Hermeneutics. Old Gnu has read many things in his reading week…
… trying to ascertain different points of view:
But alas, Old Gnu’s week took a bad turn when he got caught up with what is known among Philosophers as The Hermeneutical Circle. Put as complicatedly as possible, the issue is this:
“The “circle” in understanding belongs to the structure of meaning, and the latter phenomenon is rooted in the existential constitution of ‘Dasein’—that is, in the understanding which interprets. An entity for which, as Being-in-the-world, its Being is itself an issue, has, ontologically, a circular structure.” [Martin Heidegger] [Ed. Did he talk like this at breakfast?] This conceptualization has been severely criticized as a fruitless attempt to immunize his conception from criticism by deliberately sheltering it under a mantle of apriorism (Albert 1994: 19).
At this point Old Gnu took a break:
and he has to confess that his reading week ended rather badly:
Nevertheless, let’s all cheer ourselves up with a rousing rendition of Rule Britannia followed by William Blake’s Jerusalem:
When Britain fi-i-irst, at heaven’s command,
Aro-o-o-o-ose from out the a-a-a-zure main,
Arose, arose from out the azure main,
This was the charter, the charter of the land,
And guardian a-a-angels sang this strain:
Rule, Britannia!
Britannia, rule the waves
Britons never, never, never will be salves.
And did those feet in Ancient Times, Walk upon England’s mountain’s green?…
[Alas the answer to this question is: Probably not!]
Old Gnu wishes to apologise to his friends in Brasov Romania, Lipiny Poland, Szekeshfehervar Hungary, Rotterdam Holland, Gozo Malta, Dingelstadt Germany, Zlata Koruna Czech Republic, Trimiklini Cyprus, Rieti Italy, Lillehammer Norway, Stockholm Sweden, Madrid Spain, and any others he’s forgotten for this outburst of jingoistic Patriotism. He loves you all and he hopes you will still be his friends in the months and years ahead.
Vetus Pater Gnu
Academiae Musicorum et Theologia
Hortus pulcher fuderis LA
XXII Maius MMXIX