Clinical Interpretation, Hermeneutics and the Problem of Validation

Hermeneutics is the art and science of interpreting meanings, as in literary analysis, legal commentary, biblical exegesis, and so forth. Hermeneutic scholars have been studying the problems, methods, and principles of interpretation for centuries. Ricoeur (1970) traces two separate historical roots of hermeneutics: Aristotle's treatise, On Interpretation, and the long tradition of biblical exegesis by religious scholars. Despite its title, Aristotle's treatise does not deal with interpretation per se but focuses upon any vocal sound having significance. A concept appears in Aristotle's Metaphysics, however, that anticipates a theory of interpretation based upon understanding of multiple meanings: “[Aristotle's] famous distinction of the many meanings of being … opens a breach in the theory of univocity” (Ricoeur, 1970, pp. 24-25). The importance of this concept to hermeneutics and to interpretation generally is that interpretation