Interpretation and Hermeneutics; Comparative Study of the Principles of Ṭabāṭabāyī and Hirsch's Views

Understanding and interpreting are primary subjects of two sciences of interpretation and hermeneutics and both of them are based on four pillars, namely the author, the text, the interpreter, and the context. Still, hermeneutics is the source of new theories in the fields of understanding and interpretation. These views are sometimes compatible with the Islamic interpreters' principles and fundamentals and sometimes contradict them. In order to determine the possibility of interaction and synergy between the findings of new sciences or their conflict and contradiction, it is necessary to study in this field and compare their fundamentals. So, using a descriptive-analytical method, this study aims to investigate and compare the theoretical principles of the contemporary Islamic commentator, Ṭabāṭabāyī, to the modern western hermeneutist, Hirsch, in the field of understanding and interpretation and determine the results of this comparison. The findings suggest that in the process of realization and interpreting, their principles are relatively-not maximally- similar in four pillars of the author, the text, the interpreter, and the context; the most important common components of their principles are "methodical interpretation," "the author's intention of producing the text,"  "denotation of the words and the ability to recreate the meaning," "comprehensibility and semantic links of the text," "the instrumental role of the language," "application of the hermeneutical circle." Moreover, they mainly disagree about " the stability and certainty or flexibility of the text interpretation," "the extent of the impact that the interpreter's pre-knowledge, interests, and expectations have on the understanding," and "accepting or rejecting the theory of historicity of the text understanding."