Circles: Q Methodology and Hermeneutical Science

Abstract

A long-standing debate in hermeneutical discourse concerns the scientific
status of hermeneutical investigation. Contemporary hermeneutics has
shed away from or outright rejected scientific models and practices for
textual analysis. It is alleged that the subjective nature of textual
interpretation precludes attempting on empirical-behavioral approach.
However, studying subjectivity from an understanding mode does not
require violating inductive scientific principles. A review of its basic
themes reveals that the hermeneutical enterprise conforms to the
fundamental tenets of a science of subjectivity. Empirical operations
are available and applicable as operational techniques for doing
hermeneutical science. It transforms hermeneutics from "art" and "soft
science" into a methodology grounded in the basic foundations of
behavioral science but on a more secure footing. And it responds to the
dilemma presented by the hermeneutical circle by maintaining the
integrity of the text and controlling for the contaminating effects of
the observer's analytic presuppositions.