• Journal of Science of Art and Design
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• v.9
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• pp.25-47
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• 2006

Amongst various methods of interpreting art, a understanding of the intention of artistic creation has been traditionally considered the most essential. Hermeneutics is the typical way of approaching it. With a focus on interpretation and understanding of the object, Hermeneutics delves into methodological techniques of interpretation and understanding of the existence of art from ancient Greece to the present. Nevertheless, from the Hermeneutic viewpoint, art as the object of interpretation is not free from social conditions and tradition; for this reason, interpretation of art basically has a socio-historical aspect. The starting point of this thesis is to examine the methods of understanding art from the socio-historical viewpoint. For this purpose, I study the theory of Hermeneutics as a basic of socio-historical interpretation of art, calling for methodology I need to justify inter-dependency of the epistemological viewpoint aid the ontological viewpoint in interpretation of art. Here, I suggest 'imputation(Zurechung)' and 'cycle(Zirkel)' as methodological concepts to support interdependency of these two viewpoints in Hermeneutics. Zurechung means explanation of meaning based upon the higher standard that includes to object of interpretation, while Zirkel means perception of part in order to understand the whole and, in turn, recognition of the whole in order to understand the part. These two concepts function inter-dependently in clarifying the object of interpretation and various problems of understanding human beings derived from it in the process of interpretation. This is also a key to the explanation that the object in social condition is closely related to historical perspective.