Diltheyan Varieties of Double Hermeneutics in the Human Sciences

In this volume, the authors seek to analyze the actual influence of Dilthey's philosophy of the human sciences on various contemporary debates. They are convinced that Dilthey's interpretative-holistic epistemology provides a good starting point for engaging with alternative conceptions of the human sciences. Throughout the volume, the authors illustrate the importance of Dilthey's main concepts for constituting the human-scientific objects of inquiry qua historically contextualized objects of inquiry. It is the interpretative reflection on the forms of human beings' self-understanding of their situatedness that requires the implementation of double hermeneutics in the constitution of such objects. In my review, I concentrate chiefly on five versions of double hermeneutics discussed by the authors in different methodological contexts.