Phenomenology of language and hermeneutics in the humanities of the 20th century

The paper describes the role of hermeneutics in the humanities development in the 20th century. The relevance of the study is explained by the transition of hermeneutics from private humanitarian practice through the methods of humanitarian cognition to the overall multidisciplinary scope of study. The author analyzes the situation in science at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. At this period, there was the “epistemological gap” that led to the emergence of the philosophy of language. Then the heuristic capacity of phenomenology and its contribution to the development of hermeneutics are examined. The author makes particular reference to the impact of M. Heidegger both on the philosophy of language and hermeneutics. The paper notes that the issue of the “hermeneutic circle” and understanding has become an integral part of modern research in the field of humanities. Hermeneutics continues to be the leading research method, as the problem of understanding and interpretation of the text remains important in the contemporary philosophical discourse.