Understanding in the History of Philosophy after the “Age of Turns”

Abstract

The author discusses the possibility of overpassing the subject-object opposition in the clarification of the process of understanding in the history of philosophy. The starting point of the study is the article by V. P. Goran “The Procedure of Understanding in History of Philosophy Research”, which presents two approaches: subjective (irrational) and objective (rational). The first assumes that understanding is realized due to the “empathy” of the subject of knowledge with the “other”, with his internal state, the second is aimed at overcoming and eliminating, as far as possible, the subjective component in the act of understanding. Adequate understanding involves considering both the subjective and objective sides of the matter. This article raises the question of the possibility of preserving such a discourse after the so-called “age of turns” – a number of fundamental changes in the methodology of the humanities that occurred in the last century. The linguistic, pragmatic, rhetorical turns, and their influence on the ways of understanding texts in the history of philosophy are considered.