Hermeneutics and Phenomenology: Thinking about Method in the Humanities and Social Sciences (DUH270)

Content

This course introduces students to hermeneutics and phenomenology, two influential branches of philosophy that shape methodologies in the humanities, social sciences, and educational research. By exploring the historical origins and developments of these traditions, students will build a foundation for reflecting on and articulating their research methods. The course equips students with a methodological language to clearly communicate their research goals within humanistic and social scientific fields.

Seminars will examine how different traditions in hermeneutics (conservative, moderate, critical, and radical) and phenomenology (descriptive and interpretative) approach key questions in humanistic and social scientific inquiry, including educational research. Topics include assigning meaning to texts, experiences, and social phenomena, and the relationship between scientific ideals of objectivity and the subjective nature of lived experience.

Students will engage with central methodological questions: How do we balance description and interpretation in qualitative research? What role does the researcher’s perspective play in understanding and representing lived experiences? How do we address challenges of interpretation, objectivity, and meaning in humanistic and social scientific research? These questions will be explored through readings, discussions, and practical exercises aimed at applying hermeneutical and phenomenological methods to students’ own research.

Core readings will cover various hermeneutic traditions and key phenomenological texts that explore consciousness, experience, and phenomena. Supplementary readings will be tailored to align with students’ specific research interests. Key themes include language and meaning, dialogue and interpretation, text and translation, identity and narrative, experience and intentionality, truth and relativism, history and historicity, and power and critique. Students will engage with key thinkers in hermeneutics and phenomenology, considering how longstanding methodological debates inform their doctoral projects.

Learning outcome

Knowledge

The student will gain knowledge of:

• The different hermeneutical and phenomenological methods employed in the humanities and social sciences.
• The historical origins, development, and transformation of hermeneutics and phenomenology.
• Current methodological debates in the humanities and social sciences, including educational research.
• The ethical challenges inherent to various hermeneutical and phenomenological approaches.

Skills

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Articulate their research methods by referencing different varieties of hermeneutical and phenomenological analysis.
• Account reflexively for their methodological decisions.
• Critically evaluate the ethical, social, and political consequences of adopting any one methodological approach, including their own.
• Engage in academic discourse regarding the nature, purposes, and procedures of humanistic and social scientific inquiry.

General competence

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Reflect critically on methodological conventions found in different fields of the humanities and social sciences.
• Identify and evaluate the intellectual, cultural, ethical, and political presuppositions behind different methodological approaches in these fields.

Required prerequisite knowledge

Exam

Coursework requirements

Course teacher(s)

Course coordinator:

Method of work

Open for

Course assessment

Literature