Green Cheese Encountering Moon Rocks in the Museum
Hermeneutics Visualized, by Lesley Barker c. 2017 Hermeneutics is a theoretical approach to interpretation, understanding and meaning. The word, hermeneutics, is most commonly used in theology, which is where the discipline originated before it was adopted by jurisprudence. In another blog post, I will share a timeline who's who in hermeneutics, a field that has gained a wider application over time. My goal for this blog is to provide a way to think about hermeneutics so that it can be useful as a tool to rethink interpretation in the museum. Interpretation, as viewed in hermeneutics, begins with what is already understood. Gadamer calls this "prejudice". Educators term this "prior knowledge". Suppose the museum has an exhibit of moon rocks but that a visitor's prior knowledge, or prejudice, is that the moon is made of green cheese. When this visitor enters the exhibit, his prior knowledge is addressed, questioned and disrupted by the moon rocks o...