Thanks to new developments in computer science and natural language processing, literary scholars have embraced the quantitative study of literary works and have helped make Digital Humanities a rapidly growing field. Until recently, however, the humanities have remained largely immune to the use of data-or vigorously resisted it. Įnumerations by Andrew Piper For well over a century, academic disciplines have studied human behavior using quantitative information. Using both close and distant reading to trace the differentiation of genres, transformation of gender roles, and surprising persistence of aesthetic judgment, Underwood shows how digital methods can bring into focus the larger landscape of literary history and add to the beauty and complexity we value in literature. Without denying the usefulness of time-honored approaches like close reading, narratology, or genre studies, Underwood argues that we also need to read the larger arcs of literary change that have remained hidden from us by their sheer scale. Ted Underwood shows how digital archives and statistical tools, rather than reducing words to numbers (as is often feared), can deepen our understanding of issues that have always been central to humanistic inquiry. This is the guiding premise behind Distant Horizons, which uses the scope of data newly available to us through digital libraries to tackle previously elusive questions about literature. These texts can be generated by stories, interviews, participant observations, dimes, literature, letters, or other relevant documents.(5) One article identifies three strategies for generating nursing stories, including storytelling, narration, and.Distant Horizons by Ted Underwood Just as a traveler crossing a continent won't sense the curvature of the earth, one lifetime of reading can't grasp the largest patterns organizing literary history. Hermeneutic analysis primarily focuses on texts as a research data source. Researchers must define these terms and link them with a particular philosophy or approach as they develop the framework for a research study. Although there is no absolute or universal definition of either term, when these concepts are used together, they usually are closely related to qualitative research methods that use words or narratives as the basis to gain understanding. PHENOMENOLOGY AND HERMENEUTICS AS APPROACHES TO UNDERSTANDINGĪ close link between phenomenology and hermeneutics has resulted in the interchangeable use of the terms however, philosophical beliefs differ among phenomenologists and hermeneutic philosophers.(4) Phenomenology focuses on a person's lived experience and elicits commonalties and shared meanings, whereas hermeneutics refers to an interpretation of textual language. Hermeneutics has evolved from an analysis of biblical texts to a method used to gain understanding of human nature.(3) Early monks analyzed literary works through a method termed reconstruction (ie, forming a new perspective) to find the original intended meaning. Religious leaders sought to identify the literal or authentic meanings of religious texts so they could explain how to live a Christian life. Historically, hermeneutics has been associated with the interpretation of biblical texts. The term hermeneutics was derived from two words-the Greek verb hermeneuein, meaning to interpret, and the noun hermeneia, meaning interpretation.(1) This method of textual analysis emphasizes the socioculrural and historic influences on qualitative interpretation. Two embedded assumptions of hermeneutics are that humans experience the world through language and this language provides both understanding and knowledge. The column will conclude with a discussion of critical hermeneutics and its research implications.Ī simple definition of hermeneutics is textual interpretation, or, in other words, finding meaning in the written word. The relationship that hermeneutics has with phenomenology also will be reviewed. This column will define and provide a background of hermeneutics. Last month's column discussed phenomenology and explained that the term hermeneutics often is used in conjunction or even in confusion with the term phenomenology.
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