Hermeneutics

The term hermeneutics, in its most common usage, denotes the science and craft of denotation, that is, the investigation of the nature of meaning, and the application of those conclusions to practical pursuits. Because of the broad nature and diverse methods of the field, its formal scholarly investigation or study is usually confined to a particular subdivision; it is rare to find a scholar or student of hermeneutics in general.

Geometric Hermeneutics
Geometric Hermeneutics is the formal study of the meaning and interpretation of space or extension, and the reciprocal effects of that meaning. This field, also historically referred to as as Geo-Semantics, has been studied in Ghyll from as early as the great civil war and the discovery of the Geo-Semantic Principle, that is, that wherever you go, there you are. Applied Geometric Hemeneutics is a necessary prerequisite study for competent city planning, appropriate seating arrangements at fancy-pants dinner parties, and orthogonal cartography.

Social Hermeneutics
Briorus Jan-Vanderschusen is generally considered to be the father of this sub-discipline, publishing the foundational text in Applied Social Hermeneutics, Not That Way You Splakhead, This Way! in -246 EC. While this field has very a wide variety of applications and an active research community, the Committee for Epistemological Hygiene at the Bureau of Forgotten Knowledge has submitted a request that all discussion of the details of the field in this encyclopedia be subject to review, and has declined to review this entry. Interested scholars are encouraged to contact Jarvik Jarvik, CEH Authority, with regard to information request 202020 ("Applied Social Hermeneutics", "Encyclopedia") for more information.

Musical Hermeneutics
Begun in part as an outgrowth of Jan-Vanderschusen's work, and in part as a reaction to the simultaneous publication of the foundational and groundbreaking Songs of Odgar The Fourth and the death of Odgar IV himself. Herbert Blashford's -234 EC paper Too Much Metal for Just One Hand: Critical Methodologies and the Works of Odgar Rejah, which coined the term "Musical Hermeneutics", is usually credited with outlining the fundimental approaches of the field and identifying the common threads of the preceding social and physical fields of study.

As a footnote, although his scholarly work is often overshadowed by his later role as front man of Herbie Blashford and the Blashmen, Blashford's role as a theoretical pioneer was a great influence on his later work. Consider the following lyrics:

Well get out of that bed, wash your face and hands

Get out of that bed, wash your face and hands

The phenomonological reflexivity of interpretive modes in music appreciation

Is pretty hard to understand

Applied Biological Hermeneutics
Another important voice in Musical Hermeneutics is renaissance scholar Wilhelmina Corinne Bardway. Bardway's work in developing the ghoulwood viola in -100 EC is usually considered the great applied breakthrough in the musical definition and interpretation of meaning. The viola project also spawned the field of Applied Biological Hermeneutics, that is, the reflection of interpretation and meaning to biological and organic materials and processes, a work that Bardway continued to this day in application to culinary and medical subjects. Because good lord, she's old. And still so sassy!

Applied Linguistic Hermeneutics
A young field, seriously applied study of the subject has only begun as recently as -65 EC, with the recognition by the scholarly community of the MSG Effect. Bardway has been instrumental in developing the material approaches and applications for the techniques in this area, most significantly (at present) in her paper Carthage Must Be Destroyed: Linguology, Meaning, and New Aesthetics for Old Hat. Promising recent results have been achieved by scholars in the application of linguological study to the synthesis of certain spices.

EctoMechanical Hermeneutics
Carl Kapek's -45 EC paper The Mechanical Power of Positive Thinking Applied to the Positron Powered Thinking Machine is the pioneering work on this subject, and may be the most influential piece of scholarship in our current EctoMechanical Age. This field is the subject of extremely active research, both in the scholarly and private sectors.

Critical Hermeneutics
Nobody pays much attention to this field. Just a lot of old windbags talking themselves around in circles.

The Study of Hermen "J.J" Neut, of Wikaway Lane, Cranee Village
A secondary use of the term, this field is very new. While it has much promise, it has yet to produce significant results.

Citations: Briorus Jan-Vanderschusen, Jarvik Jarvik, Wilhelmina Corinne Bardway.

--Joe Bowers 23:08, 2 Jul 2005 (EDT)