From the Senses to Sense: The Hermeneutics of Love

Abstract. Drawing on philosophy, theology, comparative religion, spirituality, Holocaust studies, physics, biology, psychology, and personal experience, I argue that continued human existence depends on our willingness to reject nihilism–not as an expedient “noble lie” but because faith in a meaning...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Zygon
Main Author: Shafer, Ingrid H. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Wiley-Blackwell 1994
In: Zygon
Year: 1994, Volume: 29, Issue: 4, Pages: 579-602
Further subjects:B Mysticism
B cross-disciplinary dialogue
B Altruism
B two-culture split
B hemisphericity
B cross-cultural dialogue
B religion as language
B Holism
B truth and meaning
B Hermeneutics
B hesed
B Hope
B second naiveté
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Summary:Abstract. Drawing on philosophy, theology, comparative religion, spirituality, Holocaust studies, physics, biology, psychology, and personal experience, I argue that continued human existence depends on our willingness to reject nihilism–not as an expedient “noble lie” but because faith in a meaningful cosmos and the power of love is at least as validly grounded in human experience as insistence on cosmic indifference and ultimate futility. I maintain that hope will free us to develop nonimperialistic methods of bridging cultural differences by forming a mutually intelligible vocabulary that celebrates diversity, enters the worlds of others in respectful dialogue, and fosters a postmechanistic, organic, ecological, holistic, dynamic, interactive, open-ended model of reality. I lay the foundation for a “hermeneutics of love” to complement Paul Ricoeur's “hermeneutics of suspicion” and invite speculation on the ways science, technology, and society would be transformed if those “glasses of friendship” were widely applied.
ISSN:1467-9744
Contains:Enthalten in: Zygon
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9744.1994.tb00692.x