The Hermeneutic Circle... the Circle of Understanding

Abstract

The hermeneutical circle refers in the first instance to the circularity that exists between a tradition and the interpretation, as part of that same tradition; that is, a text can only be interpreted as part of a whole, as part of a tradition that constitutes the presupposition that conditions its understanding. Thus, the text is the same (identity), but the possible interpretations are multiple (difference).