Deuten deuten. Philologie, Hermeneutik und die Entstehung der Geisteswissenschaften

Lecture by Erhard Schüttpelz on his new book Deutland, followed by a discussion with Eva Geulen and Steffen Martus. Moderation Patrick Eiden-Offe

Clearly, there is no “crisis of hermeneutics.” For the last fifty years, the interpretation of literary works has overshadowed all other tasks of philology in terms of its prestige and scope. Until the end of the 19th century, this dominance could only have caused disbelief given that hermeneutics were at best perceived as a propaedeutics of source criticism and textual criticism, which were considered the true test for all historical and philological research. In his new book Deutland, Schüttpelz explores the shift in paradigms from a “higher criticism” as philology’s highest value towards hermeneutics as a new guiding principle. That which today is called “humanities” originates in that very conceptual and practical shift.

Erhard Schüttpelz, Deutland will be published as volume 219 in the series “Fröhliche Wissenschaft” on 26 May 2023 by Matthes & Seitz Berlin.

Erhard Schüttpelz was born in 1961. Following his study of German and English philology and Ethnology in Hannover, Exeter, and Bonn as well as research work in Oxford, Cologne, New York, Konstanz, and Vienna, he is a professor for media theory at the University of Siegen since 2005. His research focuses on the history of postcolonial literature and media in a globalized modernity as well as their relationship to the “primitive.” He regularly writes columns and commentaries for magazines such as Merkur.

Eva Geulen is the director of the ZfL.

Steffen Martus is a professor for Modern German Literature at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.

Patrick Eiden-Offe holds a Heisenberg position with the project Georg Lukács: An Intellectual Biography at the ZfL.

This event is kindly supported by Matthes & Seitz Berlin.

Fig. above: © Dirk Naguschewski