Reconciling the Tension between Similarity and Difference in Critical Hermeneutics
Practicing critical hermeneutics throws us into the tension between two requirements: first, to construe others as being like us; and second, to open ourselves to ways they may differ fundamentally from us and pose challenges to our treasured truths. In this essay I analyze the nature of this tension (with reference to Davidson’s and Gadamer’s philosophies of interpretation) and propose a way of reconciling them. I shall argue that the embrace of difference is in fact necessary for interpreting others to be like us. To plausibly interpret others as being like us, we need sufficient diversity within the “us.” Further, I shall argue that whom we decide to include in the “us” depends on relations of power. Throughout this argument, my illustrative cases will draw from the relationship between China and the West. I will refer to what it takes for “us” in the West to understand some central features of Confucian ethics. I will refer to efforts of contemporary Chinese thinkers to “translate” the concept of rights from the West.
