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The text presents synoptic history of philosophical hermeneutics from his oldest classical history proceed with medieval hermeneutics, hermeneutics of Protestantism, modern times, Romanticism and Historicism to 20 th century hermeneutic thinking presented by Husserl, Heidegger, Gadamer, Habermas, Ricoeur, Derrida and Ingarden.

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To be confronted with a text can lead us to open our own living world, to its expansion and saturation with something new or even with something else, something unpredictable. What then makes a human a human? Can philosophical hermeneutics say anything about that? It can! "Language is the real centre of a human being... The human is a real, as Aristotle used to say, being who has language" (Hans-Georg Gadamer). What makes a human a human is the fact that internal reflection is performed behind his voice. This is the most original topic of philosophical hermeneutics.

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Contents: Hermeneutics as a Term - The Oldest History of Hermeneutic Thinking - Medieval Hermeneutic Thinking - Hermeneutics and Protestantism - Hermeneutic Thinking in Modern Times - Hermeneutics of Romanticism - Hermeneutics and Historicism - 20 th Century Hermeneutic Thinking - The World of Language and Discourse - The World of Text.

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Ladislav Tkácik is an Associated Professor of philosophy at Trnava University. His research focuses on phenomenology, hermeneutics and philosophy of culture.

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