IFS 260 - Text and Meaning

Semester Hours: 4

Hermeneutics is an interdisciplinary study of interpretation. It examines how human beings experience the world and life as intelligible. We will ask fundamental questions regarding such intelligibility: What is a text? What is a context? What is language? What is meaning? Can everything we perceive be considered texts, including people and the world itself? What are the principles and methods of understanding the world of human “objects”-i.e., forms of human expression such as paintings, laws, literature, music, and religions?

Prerequisite: Junior or senior status or permission of the instructor.