Hermeneutics is one of the oldest traditions in the humanities. It pre-dates modern scientific forms of enquiry and can be traced back to ancient beginnings; it was pivotal to Greek education. As a practice, it was highly influential throughout both Ancient and Christian times, and because of these historical roots the term hermeneutics can, on occasion, be used specifically to refer to the study of ancient texts and the Scriptures. Today, however, hermeneutics, although still predominant in the old humanities disciplines of theology, classics, history, philosophy, law and much of literature, has spread into modern disciplines like politics, anthropology, sociology and even cultural studies where its techniques are of vital use.

The term ‘hermeneutics’ is derived from the Greek ‘hermeneutikos’ which means ‘to interpret’, and it retains the same meaning today. Interpretation is a commonplace phenomenon and we could not with any truthfulness depict an origin to this practice, be that historical, cultural or geographical. Interpretation is something human beings throughout time and history have undertaken. We have needed to interpret our world in order to survive and also have wanted to understand its deeper meaning. In social and cultural interaction we interpret each other, often tacitly, on a day-to-day basis. When we talk of hermeneutics, however, we mean something rather more specific. We are usually referring to a disciplined approach to interpretation often aimed at understanding texts of special, cultural significance.