From hermeneutics to the philosophy of text: the logic of linguistic philosophy development in the 20th century

The study deals with the role of hermeneutics in the humanities development in the 20th century. The relationship between hermeneutics and analytical philosophy of language, which significantly expanded the scope of hermeneutical method’s application while analyzing communication problems, is important. The paper describes the contribution of the analytical philosophy of language to the development of the problem of understanding. In particular, the research specifies the influence of L. Wittgenstein’s ideas and identifies the role of his concept of language games to expand the space of understanding. Understanding as a hermeneutical issue becomes communicative and pragmatic as well. Post-structuralism as one of the crucial philosophical trends in the late 20th century translated the problem of language into the field of text analysis. The paper describes the views of R. Bart on this problem. However, 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.