10.13125/CH/3225
In part 2 of this issue 1, the fundamental themes of twentieth century hermeneutics are re-examined, particularly in the essays by Francesca Brezzi, Vincenzo Cicero, Fabrizio Turoldo and Carmelo Vigna. 
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Vinicio Busacchi
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Critical Hermeneutics
Editors' Introduction
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Vinicio Busacchi
2017
10.13125/CH/3225
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Editors' Introduction
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Critical Hermeneutics, 1 (2017)
Biannual International Journal of Philosophy
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ISSN 2533-1825 (on line); DOI 10.13125/CH/3225




                             Editors’ Introduction




The Twentieth century was deeply influenced from philosophical
hermeneutics’ theoretical-practical and reflective developments. It
introduced a so large range of problematisations, contents and
perspectives, and in a so vast referential and implicational (inter-)
disciplinary scale, to enter into the real orbit of a philosophical koinè,
not of a decennary or few decennaries (Vattimo), but of a century
and more. It expresses the productivity, significance and heuristic
strength of a research and thought that hits different scientific
domains, particularly (but not exclusively) the human and social
sciences: from psychology to sociology, from psychoanalysis to
literature, from semiotic to biblical exegesis, from anthropology to
linguistics, from rhetoric to narratology, from history to law, from
political theory to religion etc.
      This is an itinerary as vast and fecund as non linear and
problematic, and even conflictual.
      For a long time hermeneutics has been recognised as technical
and philosophical discipline of reference in the interpretation of signs,
symbols and propositional contents; in biblical exegesis and the
interpretation of texts in general; in research and reflection around
methodological         and      epistemological       aspects   of    science;   in
investigation of phenomenological and ontological nature related to
the phenomenon of understanding and to the contents of knowledge;
in the critical approach to ideological construction; and much more.
      Contemporary          philosophical        hermeneutics   has   significantly
contributed to determine a truthfully complex modality to approach
Editor’s Introduction




the knowledge of reality, human being, cultural products and values.
From here it comes the necessity of a redefinition of discursive levels
and registers, of a statutory re-qualification, of refining procedures,
methods and interpretative possibilities. In addition, there is a
widespread         practical-ethical         tension,    both        in        reference       to
methodology and to the contents, and as a dialectical-dialogual as a
problematising           and      conflictual   tension.      This        is        philosophical
hermeneutics            as     mediation-normalisation        and         as         alternative-
alteration;      and         philosophical   hermeneutics       as        a     discipline     of
conciliating synthesis and as a practical-theoretical critique.
      In an opened range of investigation and research, this number of
Critical Hermeneutics thematises the question of the relationship
between       understanding          and     interpretation    within          the      thematic
perspective of philosophical hermeneutics of yesterday, today and
tomorrow. The question related to the possibility that interpretation
and explanation could open to productive dynamics and practices of
knowledge        and         understanding      within     different           or     potentially
connected knowledges, cultures and ideas remains opened, among
other questions.


      In part 2 of this issue 1, the fundamental themes of twentieth
century hermeneutics are re-examined, particularly in the essays by
Francesca Brezzi, Vincenzo Cicero, Fabrizio Turoldo and Carmelo
Vigna.
      In The Game as Art “or” The Art in Play, Francesca Brezzi traces
the search for “truth" in the game of understanding, one of the
central themes of gadamerian hermeneutics. Starting from the well-
known Gadamerian reading, she attempts a "loose" reading, a sort of
inverted hermeneutics, through which she will be able to demonstrate
the ontological dignity of the game, of play as truth experience.


VI
                                                Critical Hermeneutics, 1 (2017)




    In SAYING CHRIST: Observations on Some Christological Aspects
in Paul Ricoeur, Vincenzo Cicero re-examines Paul Ricoeur’s fruitful
contribution to Christology and the hermeneutics of the “kerygma”,
even though the philosopher did not dedicate specific works to the
issue. The polyphonic name of the Biblical God is of great interest, as
is the reconstruction of the Ricoeurian aporias related to the Christ-
Logos, key issues in relation to thought which becomes stronger
when confronted with faith.
    Fabrizio Turoldo retraces the central themes of Ricoeurian
hermeneutics in his essay, Paul Ricoeur’s Hermeneutic Style: Explain
More to Understand Better. As heir to the philosophical tradition
inaugurated by Heidegger and Gadamer, Paul Ricoeur follows the
same line of the two undisputed masters of twentieth century
hermeneutics, but gives his own very personal reading. As opposed
to Heidegger, who chooses the “shortest path” to quickly reach an
ontology of understanding, Ricoeur prefers the "long path" of patient
reflection on psychoanalysis, linguistics, narratology, critique of
ideologies, anthropology; a long path that explores the universe of
signs, texts, in order to bring out the hermeneutical nature of all our
knowledge. By trying to overcome the dichotomy placed by Gadamer
between truth and method, Ricoeur shows the complementarity
between   explanation   (erklären),   typical   of   the   sciences,      and
understanding (verstehen), practiced by the humanistic disciplines.
Explanation and comprehension are, in fact, two sides of the same
hermeneutical arc, that arc which is stretched every time a reader is
placed before a text and is called upon and questioned by it.
    In Hermeneutics and Metaphysics: A Possible Alliance, Carmelo
Vigna looks back at the legacy that hermeneutics has given to
contemporary reflection. If on the one hand the hermeneutic season
as the dominant form of philosophy now seems to have faded, on the
other, it is an undeniable fact that hermeneutics has contributed to
                                                                            VII
Editor’s Introduction




the enrichment of Western theoretical heritage. Hermeneutics must
still be held with due consideration within the context of the variety of
philosophical       knowledge   forms,   without    being   contrasted   with
"speculative" (metaphysical) knowledge, as it was customary to do a
few decades ago. It is only when we flee from every useless and
sterile contraposition, that we can think of it in the light of a new and
fruitful alliance with metaphysics.
       Therefore, if there are many questions that a critical reflection on
hermeneutics poses, it certainly also reveals the living and vital
character of a discipline that never ceases to be questioned by the
world around us and never ceases to invite everyone to become
faithful and discreet interpreters of their own time. Only through such
understanding can we avoid the risk of being trapped inside the
shallows of a closed and self-referential knowledge whose greatest
danger is losing sight of the essential link with the world of life.



                                                   V. Busacchi – G. Costanzo




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