Neurohermeneutics

Abstract

In this paper our aim is to assess the scope of what can be called «neurohermeneutics». What is this? How can it be characterized? It tries to apply the neuroscience and cognitive sciences development to the progress of contemporary hermeneutics. There are two possible strategies: (1) «hermeneutics of neuroscience»: showing its presuppositions, its conceptual approach and its social and cultural implications (it would be the field of a critical theory of culture); and (2) «neuroscience of hermeneutics»: trying to analyze the mental (neurological) substrate of our interpretations of the world, that is the named «neurology of narration». The (double) consideration which states that our brain is the creator of culture and that in turn the brain is a cultural product is weighed. To say «neurohermeneutics» is therefore asking what interpretation about the world and ourselves is offered by neurosciences, what are the neurological basis for a definition of human beings as hermeneutical and interpreters.