Philosophie, sciences sociales, et herméneutique. L’anthropologie interprétative de Johann Michel dans Homo interpretans

• Published in: Études Ricoeuriennes Vol. 13; no. 2; pp. 103 - 146
• Main Author: Lelièvre, Samuel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Pittsburgh 15.12.2022; University Library System, University of Pittsburgh
• Subjects: anthropologie; Art and art history; herméneutique et interprétation; Humanities and Social Sciences; Literature; nature; ontologie; paul ricœur; philosophie de la science; Philosophy; phénoménologie; sciences humaines et sociales; épistémologie
• ISSN: 2156-7808; 2156-7808
• DOI: 10.5195/errs.2022.615

Johann Michel’s Homo Interpretans aims at giving an account of the common ground to the question of interpretation, in a general sense covering ordinary as well as scholarly practices and conceptions, and to the question of philosophical anthropology. Important aspects of Ricoeur’s philosophy are also discussed throughout the book. The author’s thesis is that interpretation takes place whenever an understanding of the world is missing, be it on an ordinary way or in a more elaborate relationship to knowledge. This common ground gives rise to an interpretive anthropology which rearticulates the connection between philosophical discourse, the human and social sciences, and hermeneutics. Finally, the universality of homo interpretans is discussed as it relates to this project of reformulating hermeneutics and the difference between the more ordinary, exploratory level of interpretation and the level of interpretations institutionalized in human and social sciences.