Philosophical hermeneutics: A path to intercultural understanding through translation

Abstract

In philosophical hermeneutics, the thoughts of Gadamer and Ricoeur about conditions of attaining to understanding are of utmost interest. Gadamer, by proposing fusion of horizons and considering the prejudices of interpreter as basic factors of interpreting and understanding of all phenomena, and Ricoeur, by believing that we as human being only can understand the Self through understanding Other, have paved the paths to attaining intercultural understanding. This study tried to investigate the fundamental role of translation in the intercultural understanding from the window of philosophical hermeneutics, because according to Gadamer all understandings occur in language and this asserts that translation, as a linguistic and cultural phenomenon, can, after catastrophe of Babel, take the hearts and tongues of scattered human beings close to each other and as Ricoeur believes, humanity enjoys equivalence in spite of alterity.