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The author presents an exposition and, to some degree, an endorsement of ontological hermeneutics. He does so by sketching first the key concepts of humanism and then of hermeneutics, comparing and contrasting the two approaches. Thus, he outlines their psychological and philosophical underpinnings, focusing primarily on the writings of Allport, Rogers, Maslow, Dilthey, Sartre and, especially, Husserl, the humanist, and Heidegger, his protégé and the father of hermeneutics. He notes that humanism and hermeneutics both flow from Romanticism, which developed as a reaction against objectivism and scientism, but humanism espouses subjectivity and individuality and stresses the subject's self-awareness, whereas hermeneutics de-emphasizes those aspects of being and knowing, and focuses on the lack of self-transparency and the importance of the relationship between the subject and the external environment. He criticizes the humanistic trends in modern psychoanalysis, especially as exemplified by the writings of Schafer, Kohut, and Spence. He posits the value and relevance of hermeneutic principles for psychotherapy and for broader methodological issues.