What I Need to Know

LESSON 5:
HERMENUETICAL
PHENOMENOLOGY
Content Standard
The learners demonstrate an
understanding of…
The emergence of the Social Sciences
and the different disciplines
Key concepts and approaches in the Social Sciences
Performance Standard
The learners shall be able to…
- connect the disciplines with their historical and social foundations
- interpret personal and social experiences using relevant approaches
in the Social Sciences
- evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the approach
Most Essential Learning Competencies
Analyze the basic concepts and principles of the major social science ideas:
Institutionalism MELCS-Pages 609-610 DISS (Week 8-10)
Learning Objectives
At the end of the module you should be able to:
1. Define Hermeneutical Phenomenology;
2. Identify the key concepts and principles of Hermeneutical
Phenomenology; and
3. Express the importance of Hermeneutical Phenomenology

What I Know
Identification: Directions: Read the questions carefully, and choose your
answer from the word pool below
2. This is the theory and methodology of interpretation, especially the
interpretation of biblical texts, wisdom literature, and philosophical texts.

3. It is a philosophy of and a method for interpreting human experiences

as a means to understand the question of what it is to be human.

4. This seeks to establish exegetical principles by which ethical lessons may

be drawn from the various parts of the Bible.

5. He is best known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics,

and existentialism.

6. Is an approach to psychological qualitative research with an idiographic

focus, which means that it aims to offer insights into how a given person,
in a given context, makes sense of a given phenomenon.

7. It is widely used in social science research as a method to explore and

describe the lived experience of individuals.

8. This refers to the interpretation which asserts that a biblical text is to be

interpreted according to the ―plain meaning ― conveyed by its
grammatical construction and historical context.

9. This is a third type of hermeneutics that interprets the biblical narratives

as having a second level of reference beyond those persons, things, and
events explicitly mentioned in the text.

10.A type of Phenomenology that studies the emergence/genesis of

meanings of things within one's own stream of experience.

What’s In
- What are the differences between gender ideology and gender
inequality?
- How will you promote gender equality in our society?

1. It is the study of ―phenomena ―: appearances of things, or things as

they appear in our experience, or the ways in which we experience things,
Two main approaches to Phenomenology:
thus the meanings that things have in our experience.
1. Descriptive Phenomenology is widely used in social science research as
a method to explore and describe the lived experience of individuals. It is a
philosophy and a scientific method and has undertaken many variations as it has.
2. Interpretative Phenomenology is an approach to psychological
qualitative research with an idiographic focus, which means that it aims to offer
insights into how a given person, in a given context, makes sense of a given
phenomenon.
Types of Phenomenology
1. Transcendental Constitutive Phenomenology studies how objects are
constituted in transcendental consciousness, setting aside questions of any
relation to the natural world.
2. Naturalistic Constitutive Phenomenology (see naturalism) studies how
consciousness constitutes things in the world of nature, assuming with the
natural attitude that consciousness is part of nature.
3. Generative Historicist Phenomenology studies how meaning—as found in our
experience—is generated in historical processes of collective experience over
time.
4. Genetic Phenomenology studies the emergence/genesis of meanings of things
within one's own stream of experience.
5. Hermeneutical Phenomenology studies interpretive structures of experience.
This approach was introduced in Martin Heidegger's early work.

Hermeneutical phenomenology is a philosophy of and a method for interpreting

human experiences as a means to understand the question of what it is to be
human. This philosophy was developed by Martin Heidegger (1889–1976) as a
continuation and divergence from phenomenology, the philosophy developed by
his mentor and colleague, Edmund Husserl. Hermeneutical phenomenology is
sometimes referred to as interpretative phenomenology. While the
phenomenology developed by Husserl is sometimes referred to as descriptive
phenomenology or pure phenomenology. This is an inquiry on how the human
mind can grasp the true nature of things as experienced in the world.

The phenomenology perspective tells us to remove our preconceived ideas in

order to arrive at a pure description of our experiences. On the other hand, it
similarly seeks the truth in things as experienced in the world. However, it
attempts to see the truth in things as a means to understand what it is to be
human. Humans are born in a particular historical period, country, community
and background.
Friedrich Schleiermacher, also known as the father of modern theology, experience of being in the world so as to let us encounter the phenomena,
and recently the father of modern hermeneutics, took the theory of presence, and the being of life in the world itself.
interpretation onto a whole new level. He transformed the traditional
What is It
Biblical hermeneutics into a general hermeneutic which incorporated texts
of all kinds. Hermeneutics is the theory and methodology of interpretation,
Hermeneutics is the theory and methodology of interpretation, especially especially the interpretation of biblical texts, wisdom literature, and
the interpretation of biblical texts, wisdom literature, and philosophical philosophical texts. Hermeneutics is more than interpretive principles or
texts. Indeed, it is the science and art of Biblical interpretation. It is a methods used when immediate comprehension fails and includes the art of
science because it is guided by rules within a system; and it is an art understanding and communication.
because the application of the rules is by skill, and not by mechanical
imitation. This is also the branch of knowledge that deals with interpretation,
especially of the Bible or literary texts. The primary need of Hermeneutics
Phenomenology (from Greek phainómenon ―that which appears ― is to determine and understand the meaning of Biblical text. The purpose
and lógos ―study ―) is the philosophical study of the structures of of Hermeneutics is to bridge the gap between our minds and the minds of
experience and consciousness. As a philosophical movement it was the Biblical writers through a thorough knowledge of the original
founded in the early years of the 20th century by Edmund Husserl and was
languages, ancient history and the comparison of Scripture with Scripture.
later expanded upon by a circle of his followers at the universities of
Göttingen and Munich in Germany. In the history of biblical interpretation, four major types of
The science of phenomena as distinct from that of the nature of hermeneutics have emerged: the literal, moral, allegorical, and anagogical.
being. An approach that concentrates on the study of consciousness and Literal interpretation asserts that a biblical text is to be interpreted
the objects of direct experience. Literally, phenomenology is the study of according to the ―plain meaning‖ conveyed by its grammatical
―phenomena ―: appearances of things, or things as they appear in our construction and historical context.
experience, or the ways we experience things, thus the meanings things
1. Hermeneutics Literal interpretation asserts that a biblical text
have in our experience.
is to be interpreted according to the ―plain meaning‖ conveyed by its
Phenomenology studies conscious experience as experienced from grammatical construction and historical context. The literal meaning is held
the subjective or first person point of view. It is a broad discipline and to correspond to the intention of the authors.
method of inquiry in philosophy, developed largely by the German
philosophers Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger, which is based on the 2. Hermeneutics Moral which seeks to establish exegetical
premise that reality consists of objects and events (―phenomena ―) as principles by which ethical lessons may be drawn from the various parts of
they are perceived or understood in the human consciousness. the Bible.
Phenomenology, as a method has four characteristics, namely: 3. Allegorical Hermeneutics a third type of hermeneutics,
descriptive, reduction, essence and intentionality. to investigate as it interprets the biblical narratives as having a second level of reference
happens. Observations ensure that the form of the description are the beyond those persons, things, and events explicitly mentioned in the text.
things themselves. We can use the historical perspective to clarify the
earlier statement that there are several types of phenomenology. 4. Interpretation Hermeneutics. This mode of interpretation
Phenomenology is concerned about reduction, a way of bracketing our seeks to explain biblical events as they relate to or prefigure the life to
come.