Date: Mon, 03 Mar 1997 01:35:04 -0600
From: Scott Johnson <sjohn-AT-cp.duluth.mn.us>
Subject: Re: HAB: reading Habermas


Being a Hegel devoteé, I have had my share of difficult reading. I
agree with Lois when she writes:

Better to follow a guideline derived from
Heidegger's notion of a hermeneutic circle.  You can never understand
the
first sentence of the text until you have read the whole text because
only
in this way can you put the text in context, but then reading it through
again, puts it into better context -- in sum, you don't just read, you
study the text. 


True. But another way of fore-having the text is to read secondary
works. I find it odd that so many people denigrate secondary works as an
approach to a difficult author. Presumably these are the same people
who, after working so hard to understand their difficult author, write
and publish works about that same author. Do they expect to be ignored
as hopelessly partial? Provided secondary works are not a replacement
for primary texts, they are a tremendous help. 




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