Evaluation of Schleiermacher’s Hermeneutic Theory

By separating the hermeneutic approach from the hermeneutic theory, this article first explains the hermeneutic theory of Friedrich Schleiermacher, a 19th-century Protestant theologian. It then expresses and evaluates his hermeneutic approach based on this theory.
According to Schleiermacher, in understanding a text, attention should be paid to the text itself and the author's mentality; otherwise, the interpreter cannot be sure of their understanding of the author's work. Secondly, besides grammatical and linguistic rules, he presented rules and methods that enable the interpreter to reconstruct the author's mentality. Thirdly, he believed that the interpreter must set aside their assumptions when reconstructing the author's mentality to understand the author's work truly. Fourthly, he continued to use the "method" to understand the author's subjectivity and considered it possible, albeit difficult, to attain the final understanding—namely, the author's intention.
Despite significant innovations, such as 1) paying attention to the concept of understanding as the goal of hermeneutic theory, 2) presenting a theory about the nature of language, 3) exploring the intertwining of language and thought, 4) emphasising the role of the author's subjectivity in the understanding process, and 5) providing methods for achieving insight into the author's subjectivity, Schleiermacher's hermeneutic theory acknowledges the possibility of transcending the interpreter's assumptions when understanding the text. He defended the objectivity of understanding in terms of the potential to grasp the author's subjectivity within the framework of their historical tradition.
However, postmodern hermeneutics, such as Gadamer's, argue that it is impossible to transcend the interpreter's presuppositions in understanding the text and, consequently, reproduce the author's subjectivity or achieve objective understanding—specifically, the author's subjectivity within their historical context.