Psychology Dictionary of Arguments

Home Screenshot Tabelle Begriffe

 
Situations, philosophy: a situation is a more or less definable constellation of objects, actors, states, events, information and information channels. See also state, process, action, relations, descriptions, communication, context/context dependency, information, meaning, situation semantics, possible worlds, centered worlds, fine grained/coarse grained.
_____________
Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments.

 
Author Concept Summary/Quotes Sources

Hans-Georg Gadamer on Situations - Dictionary of Arguments

I 307
Situation/Gadamer: Gaining awareness of a situation is (...) in any case a task of its own difficulty. The concept of a situation is characterized by the fact that one is not facing it and therefore cannot have any objective knowledge of it(1). One stands in it, always already finds oneself in a situation, the elucidation of which is the task that can never be fully completed.
Hermeneutics: This also applies to the hermeneutic situation, i.e. the situation in which we find ourselves in relation to the tradition we are supposed to understand. Also the elucidation of this situation, i.e. the reflection on the history of action, is not complete, but this unfinishability is not a lack of reflection, but lies in the nature of the historical being that we are. >History of Effect/Gadamer
.
Historicity: To be historical means never to be absorbed in the knowledge of oneself. All self-knowledge rises from historical pretence, which we call "substance" with Hegel, because it carries all subjective meanings (from "to mean") and behaviour and thus also marks and limits all possibilities to understand a tradition in its historical otherness.
Present/Horizon: All finite presence has its limits. We define the concept of situation precisely by the fact that it represents a location that limits the possibilities of seeing. The concept of situation therefore essentially includes the concept of horizon.
>Horizon/Gadamer, >Horizon/Husserl.
I 308
Understanding: Just as in conversation the other, after one has determined his or her position and horizon, becomes understandable in his or her opinions without the need to get along with that person, so for the one who thinks historically the tradition becomes understandable in its sense without one nevertheless understanding with it and in it. In both cases the person who understands has, as it were, withdrawn from the situation of understanding. He himself or she is not to be found. By including the other's point of view in what he or she claims to say from the outset, one puts one's own point of view in a safe inaccessibility.

1. The concept of the situation has been enlightened in its structure above all by K. Jaspers (Die geistige Situation der Zeit) and Erich Rothacker. (Cf. also: „Was ist Wahrheit“, Kl. Schr, I, p. 46—58, there p. 55ff; vol. 2 of Ges. Werke, p. 44ff.)
2. H. Kuhn has already pointed this out. Cf. „The Phenomenological Concept of „Horizon«“ (Philosophical Essays in Memory of Husserl, ed. M. Faber) Cambrigde 1940, p. 106—123.

_____________
Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments
The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition.

Gadamer I
Hans-Georg Gadamer
Wahrheit und Methode. Grundzüge einer philosophischen Hermeneutik 7. durchgesehene Auflage Tübingen 1960/2010

Gadamer II
H. G. Gadamer
The Relevance of the Beautiful, London 1986
German Edition:
Die Aktualität des Schönen: Kunst als Spiel, Symbol und Fest Stuttgart 1977


Send Link

Authors A   B   C   D   E   F   G   H   I   J   K   L   M   N   O   P   Q   R   S   T   U   V   W   Z  


Concepts A   B   C   D   E   F   G   H   I   J   K   L   M   N   O   P   Q   R   S   T   U   V   W   Y   Z