Sociology 725
Seminar in Pragmatist Hermeneutics and Biocritique

Instructor: Dmitri Shalin

Office: CBC-237, Tel. 895-0259
Office hours: Tuesday 2:00-4:00 p.m., 6:30-7:00 p.m., or by appointment
http://www.unlv.edu/centers/cdclv

SYLLABUS

EMPHASIS OF COURSE: The class offers a sociological examination of the interpretation theory, its historical development, and contemporary applications. The course starts with the ancient Greek philosophy and rhetoric where the problem of understanding was first articulated. Discussion proceeds to the biblical exegesis which furnished a paradigm for close textual reading, engages the humanist thought that nourished the Romantic hermeneutical tradition, then focuses on Dilthey’s and Weber’s views on hermeneutics as a foundation of human sciences, the Nietzschean-Freudian approach to hermeneutics as an exercise in suspicion, Heidegger-Gadamer’s ontological hermeneutics, Derrida’s deconstructive hermeneutics, Ricoeur’s structural hermeneutics, and Habermas’s critical hermeneutics. The final segment of the course centers on Peirce, James, Dewey, and Mead whose pragmatist semiotics moved hermeneutics beyond its traditional preoccupation with texts and towards understanding the embodied, emotionally-laden forms of signification. The pragmatist understanding of meaning as an interplay of linguistic, somatic-affective, and behavioral-performative signs is juxtaposed to the Saussurean and postmodernist approach that tends to privilege linguistic forms of signification. The last segment of the seminar is devoted to the hermeneutics of embodiment and its application in biographical research and selected areas within in the political, economic, legal, and artistic domains.

REQUIREMENTS: A mid-term examination is scheduled for the ninth week of the class. Students make a class presentation, interpreting a cultural artifact of their choice and discussing discursive and nondiscursive signs embedded in the object under interpretation. At the end of the semester, students are expected to write a research paper on the order of 10-15 double-spaced type-written pages that applies the principles of pragmatist hermeneutics to a practical domain or a problem area, showing how symbolic, indexical, and iconic signs bear on the question of meaning. The final grade will reflect student’s presentation, mid-term exam, final paper, and contribution to class discussions.

OUTLINE OF TOPICS:

1. Introduction: Interpretation of Meaning as a Theoretical and Practical Problem
2. The Greco-Roman World: Rhetoric and Hermeneutics in the Classical Age
3. Biblical Exegesis: Literal, Figurative, and Spiritual Meaning
4. Humanism and Reformation: The Sources of Control Over the Canonical Text
5. Schleiermacher: Romantic Hermeneutics
6. Dilthey and Weber: Hermeneutics of the Human Sciences
7. Nietszche and Freud: Hermeneutics of Suspicion
8. Heidegger and Gadamer: Ontological Hermeneutics
9. Derrida: Deconstructive Hermeneutics
10. Ricoeur: Structural Hermeneutics
11. Habermas: Critical Hermeneutics
12. Peirce: Semiotic Hermeneutics
13. James, Dewey, and Mead: Hermeneutics as a Study of Embodied Social Forms
14. Signing in the Flesh: The Play of Difference Between Symbolic, Indexical, and Iconic Signs
15. Pragmatist Hermeneutics: The Pragmatic-Discursive Misalignment and Biocritique

READINGS: A book by Dmitri Shalin, Pragmatism and Democracy: Studies in History, Social Theory and Progressive Politics (New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers, 2011), is adopted as a primary textbook for the class. It is supplemented by Gerald L. Bruns, Hermeneutics Ancient and Modern, and an anthology edited by John J. Stuhr, Pragmatism and Classical American Philosophy of Hermeneutics. A special set of materials provided by the instructor will serve as fodder for class discussions. In the list that follows, required readings are marked with an asterisk (*). Other works are suggested for independent studies and/or work on research papers.

1. Introduction: Interpretation of Meaning as a Theoretical and Practical Problem

*D. Shalin. “Signing in the Flesh: Pragmatist Hermeneutics, Embodied Sociology, and Biocritique,” Pragmatism and Democracy, Ch. 6.
*D. Shalin, “Reframing the Law: Legal Pragmatism, Juridical Moralism, and the Embodied Democratic Process.” Pragmatism and Democracy, Ch. 7.
*S. Mailloux, “Articulation and Understanding: The Pragmatic Intimacy Between Rhetoric and Hermeneutics” Pp. 378-394 in Rhetoric and Hermeneutics in Our Time: Reader, edited by Walter Jost and Michael J. Hyde.
R. Bontekoe, Dimensions of the Hermeneutic Circle, Introduction.
R. Palmer, Hermeneutics. Chs. 2-3.
K. J. Vanhoozer, Is There a Meaning in This Text, Introduction.
D. Hiley, J. Bohman, and R. Shusterman, The Interpretive Turn, Introduction.
M. Walzer, Interpretation and Social Criticism, Ch. 3.

2. The Greco-Roman World: Rhetoric and Hermeneutics in the Classical Age

*G. Bruns, Hermeneutics Ancient and Modern, Chs. 1-2.
*G. A. Kennedy, A New History of Classical Rhetoric, Chs. 2, 3, 6.
*H.G. Gadamer, “Rhetoric and Hermenetuics,” Pp. 49-59 in Rhetoric and Hermeneutics in Our Time:
Reader , edited by Walter Jost and Michael J. Hyde.
*P. Rocouer, “Rhetoric, Poetic, Hermeneutic,” Pp. 60-72 in Rhetoric and Hermeneutics in Our Time: Reader , edited by Walter Jost and Michael J. Hyde.
B. Vikers, In Defense of Rhetoric, Pp. 1-82.
K. Eden, Hermeneutics and the Rhetorical Tradition, Chs. 1-2.
T. M. Conley, Rhetoric in the European Tradition, Chs. 1-2.
M. Ferraris, History of Hermeneutics, Ch 1.
C. Alteri, “Toward a Hermeneutic Responsive to Rhetorical Theory,” Pp. 90-107 in Rhetoric and Hermeneutics in Our Time: Reader , edited by Walter Jost and Michael J. Hyde.
R. E. Palmer, “What Hermeneutics Can Offer Rhetoric,” Pp. 108-131 in Rhetoric and Hermeneutics in Our Time: Reader, edited by Walter Jost and Michael J. Hyde.

3. Biblical Exegesis: Literal, Figurative, and Spiritual Meaning

*G. Bruns, Hermeneutics Ancient and Modern, Chs. 3-5.
*M. Ferraris, History of Hermeneutics, Pp. 10-19.
*K. Eden, Hermeneutics and the Rhetorical Tradition , Ch. 3.
D. G. Marshall , “Rhetoric, Hermeneutics, and the Interpretation of Scripture: Augustine to Robert of Basevorn,” Pp. 275-289 in Rhetoric and Hermeneutics in Our Time: Reader, edited by Walter Jost and Michael J. Hyde.
K. J. Vanhoozer, Is There a Meaning in This Text, Part 1.
A. C. Thiselton, New Horizons in Hermeneutics, Pp. 142-198.
H. G. Gadamer, Truth and Method.
G. R. Osborne, The Hermenmeutical Spiral. A Comprehensive Introduction to Biblical Interpretation. Chs. 9, 11.
G. Eichele, The Control of Biblical Meaning. Cannon as Semiotic Mechanism. Chs. 1, 2, 4.
B. Rojtman, Black Fire on White Fire. An Essay on Jewish Hermeneutics, from Midrash to Kabbalah, Introduction.
J. Stem, Problems and Parables of Law. Maimonidies and Nahmanides on Reasons for the Commandments, Ch. 4.

4. Humanism and Reformation: The Sources of Control Over the Canonical Text

*G. Bruns, Hermeneutics Ancient and Modern, Ch. 7.
*M. Ferraris, History of Hermeneutics, Pp. 19-67.
B. Vikers, In Defense of Rhetoric, Pp. 254-295.
K. Eden, Hermeneutics and the Rhetorical Tradition, Chs. 4-6.
J. H. Stone, “Christian Praxis as Reflexive Action,” Pp. 103-128 in G. Leyh, ed., Legal Hermeneutics. History, Theory, and Practice.

5. Schleiermacher: Romantic Hermeneutics  

*G. Bruns, Hermeneutics Ancient and Modern, Ch. 8.
*D. Shalin, “Empowering the Self: Romanticism, the French Revolution, and the Rise of Sociological Hermeneutics.” Pragmatism adn Democracy Ch. 1.
*F. D. E. Schleiermacher, Pp. 57-146 in The Hermeneutics Tradition, Edited by G. L. Ormiston and A. Schrift.
*H. G. Gadamer, Truth and Method, Pp. 153-173.
*F. D. E. Schleiermacher, “General Hermeneutics,” Pp. 73-85 in The Hermeneutic Tradition, Edited by G. L. Ormiston and A. Schrift.
Wilhelm von Humboldt, “The Language and Conformation of Language,” Pp. 99-117 in The Hermeneutics Reader, Edited by K. Muller-Vollmer.
M. Ferraris, History of Hermeneutics, Pp. 70-92.

6. Dilthey and Weber: Hermeneutics of the Human Sciences

*W. Dilthey, “The Rise of Hermenetuics,” Pp. 115-146 in The Hermeneutic Tradition, Edited by G. L. Ormiston and A. Schrift.
*W. Dithey, “An Introduction to the Human Sciences,” Pp. 115-146 in Dilthey: Selected Writings.
*Weber, M. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.
*D. Shalin, “The Impact of Transcendental Idealism on Early German and American Sociology.” Current Perspectives in Social Theory 10 (1990): 1-29.
Weber, M. The Methodology of the Social Sciences, Ch. 3.
J. G. Droysen, “Hisotry and the Historical Method,” Pp. 119-123 in The Hermeneutic Tradition, Edited by G. L. Ormiston and A. Schrift.
J. G. Droysen, “The Modes of Interpretation,” Pp. 126-131 in The Hermeneutic Tradition, Edited by G. L. Ormiston and A. Schrift M. Ferraris, History of Hermeneutics, Pp. 110-121.

7. Nietszche and Freud: Hermeneutics of Suspicion

*D. Shalin. “Signing in the Flesh: Pragmatist Hermeneutics, Embodied Sociology, and Biocritique,” Pragmatism and Democracy, Ch. 6.
*M. Ferraris, History of Hermeneutics, Pp. 123-140.
*P. Ricoeur, Freud and Philosophy, Pp. 3-114.
A. C. Thiselton, New Horizons in Hermeneutics, Pp. 344-350.
J. Derrida. Spurs. Nietzsche’s Style.

8. Heidegger and Gadamer: Ontological Hermeneutics

“D. Shalin, Hermeneutics and Prejudice: Heidegger and Gadamer in Their Historical Setting.” Russian Journal of Communication. 2010, Vol. 3, No. 1-2, pp. 7-24
*H. G. Gadamer, Truth and Method, 235-274.
*M. Heidegger, Being and Time, Sections 31-34.
*M. Heidegger, Letter on Humanism.
*G. Bruns, Hermeneutics Ancient and Modern, Ch. 12.
M. Ferraris, History of Hermeneutics, Pp. 140-177.
R. Bontekoe, Dimensions of the Hermeneutic Circle, Chs. 3-4.

9. Derrida: Deconstructive Hermeneutics 

*D. Shalin, “Reading Text Pragmatically: Modernity, Postmodernism, and Pragmatist Inquiry,” Pragmatism and Democracy, Ch. 5.
* J. Derrida, “The Questions to Hans-Georg Gadamer,” Pp. 52-54, 58-71 in D. P. Michelfelder and R. E. Palmer, eds., Dialogue and Deconstruction. The Gadamer-Derrida Encounter.
*H. G. Gadamer, “Text and Interpretation,” Pp. 21-51 in D. P. Michelfelder and R. E. Palmer, eds., Dialogue and Deconstruction. The Gadamer-Derrida Encounter.
M. Ferraris, History of Hermeneutics, Pp. 180-184.
A. C. Thiselton, New Horizons in Hermeneutics, Pp. 80-131.
R. Rorty, Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity, Ch. 6.
K. J. Vanhoozer, Is There a Meaning in This Text, Pp. 48-66, 119-125, 211-215.
G. B. Madison, ed., The Hermeneutics of Postmodernity.

10. Ricoeur: Structural Hermeneutics 

*D. Shalin. “Signing in the Flesh: Pragmatist Hermeneutics, Embodied Sociology, and Biocritique,” Pragmatism and Democracy, Ch. 6.
*G. Bruns, Hermeneutics Ancient and Modern, Ch. 12.
*P. Ricoeur, From Text to Action, Pp. 105-167, 308-324.
M. Ferraris, History of Hermeneutics, Pp. 204-209.
A. C. Thiselton, New Horizons in Hermeneutics, Pp. 351-372.
R. Bontekoe, Dimensions of the Hermeneutic Circle , Ch. 5.
P. Ricoeur, Hermeneutics and the Human Sciences.

11. Habermas: Critical Hermeneutics

*D. Shalin, “Challenging Critical Theory: The Frankfurt School, Communicative Action, and the Pragmatist Revival.”Pragmatism and Democracy, Ch. 4.
*J. Habermas, “A Review of Gadamer’s Truth and Method,” Pp. 213-244 in in The Hermeneutic Tradition, Edited by G. L. Ormiston and A. Schrift.
*J. Habermas, “The Hermeneutic Claim to Universality,” Pp. 244-272 in in The Hermeneutic Tradition, Edited by G. L. Ormiston and A. Schrift.
*W. Rehg, “Reason and Rhetoric in Habermas’s Theory of Argumentation,” Pp. 358-377 in Rhetoric and
Hermeneutics in Our Time: Reader, edited by Walter Jost and Michael J. Hyde.
J. Habermas, Theory of Communicative Action, Vol. 1.
M. Ferraris, History of Hermeneutics, Pp. 255-258.
P. Ricoeur, From Text to Action, Pp. 270-307.
K. J. Vanhoozer, Is There a Meaning in This Text, Pp. 217-218, 223-225, 400-401.

12. Peirce: Semiotic Hermeneutics

*D. Shalin, “Envisioning Pragmatist Sociology: Philosophical Sources, Methodological Principles, and Political Underpinnings of Social Interactionism.” Pragmatism and Democracy, Ch. 3.
*D. Shalin. “Signing in the Flesh: Pragmatist Hermeneutics, Embodied Sociology, and Biocritique,” Pragmatism and Democracy, Ch. 6.
*J. Stuhr, Pragmatism and Classical American Philosophy, Pp. 77-88, 97-115.
*M. Leff, “Hermeneutical Rhetoric,” Pp. 196-214 in Rhetoric and Hermeneutics in Our Time: Reader, edited by Walter Jost and Michael J. Hyde.
N. S. Struever, “Subtilitas Applicandi in Rhetorical Hermeneutics: Peirce’s Gloss and Kelly’s Example,” Pp. 215-235 in Rhetoric and Hermeneutics in Our Time: Reader, edited by Walter Jost and Michael J. Hyde.
M. Ferraris, History of Hermeneutics, Pp. 101-105.  

13. James, Dewey, and Mead: Hermeneutics as a Study of Embodied Social Forms 

*D. Shalin, “Envisioning Pragmatist Sociology: Philosophical Sources, Methodological Principles, and Political Underpinnings of Social Interactionism.” Pragmatism and Democracy, Ch. 3
*D. Shalin. “Signing in the Flesh: Pragmatist Hermeneutics, Embodied Sociology, and Biocritique,” Pragmatism and Democracy, Ch. 6.
*J. Stuhr, Pragmatism and Classical American Philosophy. Pp. 161-201, 230-240, 476-490, 555-571.
*J. Kloppenberg, Uncertain Victory. Social Democracy and Progessivism in European and American Thought, 1870-1920. Introduction.
T. Alexander. John Dewey's Theory of Art, Experience and Nature: The Horizons of Feeling. Ch. 4.
R. Rorty, “Science as Solidarity,” Pp. 38-52 in The Rhetoric of the Human Sciences.
K. J. Vanhoozer, Is There a Meaning in This Text? Pp. 209-214, 226-227.

14. Signing in the Flesh: The Play of Difference Between Symbolic, Indexical, and Iconic Signs

*D. Shalin. “Signing in the Flesh: Pragmatist Hermeneutics, Embodied Sociology, and Biocritique,” Pragmatism and Democracy, Ch. 6.
*D. Shalin, “Reframing the Law: Legal Pragmatism, Juridical Moralism, and the Embodied Democratic Process.” Pragmatism and Democracy, Ch. 7.
*R. Shusterman, Performing Live.
*R. Rorty, Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity, Chs. 4-5.
*G. Lakoff and M. Johnson, Philosophy in the Flesh, 16-93.
T. Alexander. John Dewey's Theory of Art, Experience and Nature: The Horizons of Feeling. Ch. 5.
R. Rorty, “The Priority of Democracy for Philosophy,” Pp. 175-196 in Richard Rorty, Objectivity, Relativism, and Truth.
Marmor, Law and Interpretation. Essays in Legal Philosophy, Chs. 9-11.  

15. Pragmatist Hermeneutics: The Pragmatic-Discursive Misalignment and Biocritique 

*D. Shalin, “Envisioning Pragmatist Sociology: Philosophical Sources, Methodological Principles, and Political Underpinnings of Social Interactionism.” Pragmatism and Democracy, Ch. 3
*D. Shalin, “Cultivating Democratic Demeanor: Liberalism, Affect Control, and Emotionally Intelligent Democracy.” Pragmatism and Democracy, Ch. 8.
*D. Shalin, “Goffman's Self-Ethnographies: Intersecting Biography, Theory and History.”
J. Kloppenberg, Uncertain Victory. Social Democracy and Progessivism in European and American Thought, 1870-1920. Pp.
G. Bruns, Hermeneutics Ancient and Modern, Ch. 9.

Pragmatist Hermeneutic Agency Grid  

1. Human agency is a somatically-grounded, emotionally-laden, discursively-framed, action-bound, self-referentially-guided, historically-rooted,
and structurally-constrained capacity for action.

2. Life dimension highlights the particular mode of being in the world that distinguishes human agents as emotional, thinking, and acting creatures.

3. Rhetorical function spells out the key objectives that classical rhetoric associates with effective or persuasive communication: instructing, entertaining, and motivating.

4. Hermeneutical function identifies the basic ways in which human agents interpret their world: emotional comprehension, verbal articulation,
and pragmatic appropriation.

5. Signifying media describes the principal hermeneutical resources that human agents use to sign themselves in the world: somatic-affective, discursive-symbolic, and behavioral-performative.

6. Sign type refers to the basic signs of pragmatist semiotics: indexical sign whose flesh partakes in or physically interacts with the object it stands for; logical sign that is related to its object through code or convention; and iconic behavioral sign that practically achieves its object through a sequence of deliberate actions embodying or impersonating a social role.