On the nature of language and the philosophy of interpretation - Saeed Tawfiq

The philosophy of interpretation forms a fundamental trend in contemporary philosophy, participated in by many of the great philosophers of the twentieth century and up to the present time. The truth is that this trend primarily concerns the interpretation of text: such as philosophical, religious, literary, and historical texts, and other texts documented in writing. However, it also extends to include the interpretation of everything that is understandable and rational: such as symbols, myths, phenomena of art, and perhaps for this reason, interpretation has become a "trend" in contemporary philosophy, as Gadamer says. Every movement wants to describe itself as "interpretive." There is no doubt that interpretation has become an urgent requirement in our contemporary intellectual life, which is dominated by alienation due to the complexity and fragmentation of knowledge, and due to the distancing between the culture of the past and the present, and the conflict between the cultures and beliefs of peoples despite all that is said about the benefits of globalization and its technological pretexts that will work to bring cultures closer, and other promises, false or hidden under the cover of political ideology. It is also certain that the tools of interpretation known in our Islamic culture during the medieval era, which some still use today, are limited and ineffective when it comes to interpreting the phenomena of our contemporary life. Therefore, those who undertake the task of interpretation now must be armed with extensive knowledge in the field of contemporary human sciences such as history, language, anthropology, sociology, and psychology, in addition to philosophy primarily. Year of publication: 2015. Cover type: Paperback. Size: 21 × 14.