
Schleiermacher's Hermeneutical Circle
Schleiermacher's Hermeneutical Circle describes how understanding a text involves a cyclical process: to grasp the whole, you interpret its parts; to interpret parts accurately, you need to understand the whole context. This back-and-forth process means that comprehension improves progressively as you move between the specific details and the overall meaning. Essentially, understanding develops through this iterative effort, where each part informs the whole, and the whole clarifies the parts, leading to a richer, more accurate interpretation of the text.