ABSTRACT
The present paper proposes a critical reflection about the potentialities and limits of hermeneutics as an investigative tool, considering the epistemic rigor and vigilance towards the educational field. The study results from a bibliographical methodological approach of analytical and hermeneutic perspective. Among the pretensions of this paper, the possibility of expanding the reflections and problematizations about hermeneutics as an investigative method is considered. The research evidences that, for the investigation in hermeneutic perspective, the theoretical-epistemological formation of the researcher becomes fundamental. Furthermore, it is emphasized that in the interpretative art, the dialogical intersubjective communicative process is nuclear. Starting from the critical review of research training in the educational field, the investigation follows closely the research of Jean Grondin and his discussion on the claim of universality of philosophical hermeneutics. The investigation approaches the topic by reconstructing arguments from the philosophy of Gadamer and Habermas. The paper culminates by highlighting hermeneutical historicity and circularity through living dialogue with tradition as criteria of validity and demarcation, in the exercise of updating knowledge through the hermeneutic approach.
Keywords:
Philosophical hermeneutics; Investigation; Epistemology; Methodology