Abstract

Recent work in hermeneutic theory has tended to focus on developments on the Continent. A great deal of attention has been given to such thinkers as Schleiermacher, Dilthey, Heidegger, and Gadamer. It is assumed that hermeneutic theory is primarily a European achievement and that other philosophical traditions have had little to say regarding the problem of interpretation. It is the purpose of this dissertation to correct this onesided emphasis by detailing the achievements of the American philosopher Josiah Royce. ;Royce is often seen as an idealist par excellence in the tradition of a Hegel or a Fichte. While this characterization is not wrong in its general appraisal it tends to downplay Royce's pragmatic and pluralistic elements. Further, such a view ignores the tremendous changes which occurred in Royce's work after his decisive reacquaintance with the work of C. S. Peirce in 1912. In his later work Royce develops a rich and complex theory of interpretation which is itself based on a general theory of community. Royce's appropriation of Peirce's semiotics enabled him to provide a more general analysis of interpretation than anyone before him. ;Royce's grafting of semiotics to hermeneutics is an event of both historical and conceptual significance. It enabled him to apply interpretation theory to any sign whatever and to show just how signs are related in a more comprehensive logic. Yet the most important ingredient in the Roycean hermeneutic is his theory of the community of interpretation. This general theory forms the horizon for the understanding of both the object and the act of interpretation. ;While the major emphasis of the dissertation is historical, the future of hermeneutic theory is kept in view. We are at a cross-roads in interpretation theory and need to find less subjectivistic models than those currently being employed. Royce, with his roots in Peircean semiotics, provides us with a number of tools which will enable us to develop an objective hermeneutics. His complex analysis of community stands as the major breakthrough in the direction of objective validation for our hermeneutic acts.