Disclosure in the Philosophy of Hannah Arendt: The Bridge Between Phenomenology and Hermeneutics

Abstract

In the philosophy of Hannah Arendt, the meaning or sense of phenomena has a character of disclosure. The question that motivates this research is how spectators arrive at this revealed meaning. To answer it, I divide the text into three moments. First, I argue that from the perspective of thinking, disclosure is phenomenological in nature, so the spectator’s task would be that of contemplation after questioning prejudices. Second, I argue that from the perspective of the judgment, the disclosure would consist of a dokei moi (‘it seems to me’), and would imply a hermeneutical exercise on the part of the spectators. Third and lastly, I conclude that the disclosure of meaning connects the phenomenological and hermeneutical methods, as it is both perceived and interpreted by a community of spectators.