Hermeneutics of suspicion

Hermeneutics of suspicion' is a phrase coined by Paul Ricœur, "to capture a common spirit that pervades the writings of Marx, Freud, and Nietzsche."^[1] According to Rita Felski, it is

...a .distinctively modern style of interpretation that circumvents obvious or self-evident meanings in order to draw out less visible and less flattering truths.^{[1][note 1]}

Ruthellen Josselson explains that "Ricoeur distinguishes between two forms of hermeneutics: a hermeneutics of faith which aims to restore meaning to a text and a hermeneutics of suspicion which attempts to decode meanings that are disguised."^[2]

See also

• Karl Marx
• Friedrich Nietzsche
• Sigmund Freud
• Frankfurter Schule
• Jurgen Habermas
• Michel Foucault
• Sheldon Pollock
• The Battle for Sanskrit

Notes

1. Rita Felski: "The “hermeneutics of suspicion” is a phrase coined by Paul Ricoeur to capture a common spirit that pervades the writings of Marx, Freud, and Nietzsche. In spite of their obvious differences, he argued, these thinkers jointly constitute a “school of suspicion.” That is to say, they share a commitment to unmasking “the lies and illusions of consciousness;” they are the architects of a distinctively modern style of interpretation that circumvents obvious or self-evident meanings in order to draw out less visible and less flattering truths (Ricoeur 356). Ricoeur’s term has sustained an energetic after-life within religious studies, as well as in philosophy, intellectual history, and related fields[.]" ^[1]

References

1. Rita Felski, Critique and the Hermeneutics of Suspicion, M/C Journal, Vol. 15, No. 1 (2012) - 'suspicion'
2. Ruthellen Josselson, The hermeneutics of faith and the hermeneutics of suspicion