Examining the Role of Presuppositions in Text Comprehension from the Perspectives of “Gadamer” and “Ayatollah Sobhani”

The necessity of presuppositions for text comprehension is undeniable. Presuppositions that are helpful in a proper understanding of the author’s intention and do not impose a meaning other than that intended by the author are acceptable and applicable. Some, such as Gadamer, conceive of texts as events, and thus, assume such a great role for presuppositions in comprehension that they deem it impossible for a text to have an ultimate meaning. In his opinion, even the author is an understander of the text, and one of the consequences of accepting such a view will be the relativity of comprehension. But by classifying presuppositions, Ayatollah Sobhani has acknowledged only the role of shared presuppositions in comprehension. Due to the detrimental effects of Gadamerian hermeneutics on comprehension, especially in understanding the scriptures, this viewpoint has provoked criticisms such as: the self-destruction of this view, the creation of infinite regress in the limitless acceptance of the role of presuppositions, and the impossibility of evaluating understandings and distinguishing between pure and impure understanding. However, the existence of an identical understanding of texts throughout the ages, especially the correct and common understanding, among the audience, of the scriptures, is a refutation of this view, and the purpose of interpreting and understanding a text is generally to reach the author’s intent, not what is understandable of the text in the interpreter’s era.