Hermeneutics

Hermeneutics is the study of the methodological principles of interpretation, especially the interpretation of biblical texts, wisdom literature and philosophical texts. It began as the exegesis of scripture and was later broadened to questions of general interpretation, so that it now takes in written, verbal and nonverbal communication, along with semiotics, presuppositions and pre-understandings. Exegesis concentrates on the words and grammar of a text, while hermeneutics is the wider discipline. The term comes from the Greek word for translate or interpret, and the technical term for interpretation entered philosophy mainly through the title of Aristotle's work On Interpretation, written around 360 BCE. Hermeneutics has been applied widely across the humanities, above all in law, history and theology.