THE HERMENEUTICAL OTHER, AND THE NEGOTIATION OF MEANING

Human beings do not merely exchange words; they negotiate their unique worlds. In every conversation, there stands before us what we may call the hermeneutical Other - the one whose words we must interpret, whose silences we must decode, and whose intentions we can never access directly. Meaning is not simply transmitted like a parcel; it is co-constructed, resisted, reshaped, and sometimes distorted in the very act of dialogue.      

 From Max Weber to Ludwig Wittgenstein and Hans-Georg Gadamer, and through the wider traditions traditions of phenomenology and epistemology, philosophers have insisted that understanding is neither automatic nor neutral. It is negotiated. And the success or failure of this negotiation often determines whether relationships flourish or fracture.

Meaning as Social Action: Weber’s Insight

Weber famously defined sociology as the interpretive understanding (Verstehen) of social action (Weber, 1922). For Weber, action becomes social when it is oriented toward the behavior of others and imbued with subjective meaning. In conversation, each participant acts with intention—hoping to be understood, to persuade, to defend, to confess.

Yet Weber reminds us that meaning is always subjective. I may utter a statement intending reassurance, but the listener may interpret it as condescension. Consider a simple example: A husband tells his wife, “Calm down.”

Intended meaning: “Let’s approach this rationally.”
Received meaning: “Your emotions are irrational.”

The utterance becomes social action only as interpreted by the Other. Thus, meaning is not a fixed property of the sentence; it is a product of orientation between interlocutors. Misalignment of subjective intentions produces misunderstanding—and often interpersonal strife.

Language as Use: Wittgenstein’s Language-Games

In his later philosophy, Wittgenstein argued that “the meaning of a word is its use in the language” (Philosophical Investigations, §43). Words function within “language-games”—rule-governed forms of life embedded in practices, cultures, and shared assumptions.

When interlocutors belong to different language-games, misunderstanding becomes almost inevitable.

For instance, consider the word “respect.”

• In one language-game (traditional hierarchy), respect may mean deference and silence.
• In another (egalitarian discourse), respect may mean open disagreement expressed honestly.

When two individuals from different socio-cultural worlds converse, they assume shared rules that may not exist. What appears as disrespect to one is honesty to another. Thus, misunderstanding is not always moral failure; it is often a clash of language-games.

Wittgenstein’s insight suggests that meaning is negotiated implicitly through shared practices. Where shared practices are thin or fractured, interpretation falters.

Gadamer and the Fusion of Horizons

If Weber emphasized subjective intention and Wittgenstein emphasized use, Gadamer deepened the analysis by arguing that understanding is historically situated. In Truth and Method (1960), he introduced the notion of the “fusion of horizons.” Each person stands within a horizon - a historically shaped field of vision fored by culture, education, prejudices, and experiences.

We never approach conversation as blank slates. We bring what Gadamer calls Vorurteile - prejudgments. These are not necessarily irrational; they are the conditions of understanding itself. However, when prejudices harden into dogmatic preconceptions, dialogue collapses.

Imagine two political interlocutors. One hears “reform” and imagines progress; the other hears “reform” and imagines chaos. Each word activates a different horizon. Without conscious effort toward fusion - toward allowing one’s horizon to be affected by the Other - conversation becomes parallel monologue.

Understanding, then, is not absorption of another’s meaning but a negotiated expansion of one’s horizon. When such fusion fails, distortion arises.

Phenomenology and the Lived Texture of Misunderstanding

The phenomenological tradition - especially figures like and  - teaches that experience is always embodied and intentional. We perceive the world through mood, memory, and affect.

A tired person hears criticism more sharply.
A jealous mind hears neutrality as threat.
A fearful subject hears ambiguity as danger.

Mood, as argued in Being and Time (1927), discloses the world in particular ways. Anxiety reveals the world as unstable; joy reveals it as welcoming. Thus, psychological architecture shapes interpretation before reason intervenes.

Consider a workplace scenario:

A supervisor says, “We need to talk about your performance.”

• If the employee is confident and secure, the phrase signals growth.
• If the employee carries a history of rejection, the phrase signals impending doom.

The same sentence becomes two entirely different worlds.

Meaning, therefore, is not negotiated in a vacuum but within emotional atmospheres and psychological predispositions.

Fiction, Projection, and the Narrative Self

Human beings are narrative creatures. We interpret events through stories we tell about ourselves and others. A person who believes “I am always undervalued” will interpret ambiguous comments as confirmation of that fiction. Another who believes “People respect me” interprets the same comments benignly.

This aligns with hermeneutical insights from , who emphasized narrative identity. We live within interpretive frameworks that structure what counts as insult, affection, or indifference.

Thus, the hermeneutical Other is never encountered directly; we encounter our interpretation of the Other filtered through narrative and memory.

Misunderstanding and Interpersonal Strife

When meaning is distorted by prejudice, mood, narrative fiction, or clashing language-games, misunderstanding escalates.

A joke becomes an insult.
Advice becomes domination.
Silence becomes hostility.

Weber’s social action becomes misoriented. Wittgenstein’s rules are misapplied. Gadamer’s horizons fail to fuse.

Over time, accumulated distortions harden into resentment. Families fracture not over grand philosophical disagreements but over misinterpreted tones, gestures, and phrases. Communities polarize because interlocutors no longer negotiate meaning but weaponize it.

Misunderstanding, then, is not trivial—it is socially explosive.

Toward a Reassessment of Spoken Words

If meaning is negotiated, then responsibility for understanding is shared. Several philosophical lessons emerge:

1. Hermeneutical Humility (Gadamer):
   Recognize that one’s interpretation is not final. Allow the Other’s horizon to challenge one’s own.

2. Clarification of Language-Games (Wittgenstein):
   Ask: “What do you mean by that word?” Often conflict dissolves when definitions are made explicit.

3. Interpretive Charity (Weberian Verstehen):
   Seek to grasp the subjective intention behind the action before reacting emotionally.

4. Phenomenological Awareness:
   Reflect on one’s mood and psychological state. Is the anger in the words - or in oneself?

A practical example:

Instead of responding, “You always disrespect me,”
one might ask, “When you said that, did you mean it as criticism or encouragement?”

The question reopens negotiation.

The Ethical Imperative of Understanding

Conversation is not merely exchange; it is ethical encounter. The hermeneutical Other is not an object but a subject whose words deserve patient interpretation. When interlocutors assume bad faith, misunderstanding calcifies. When they reassess spoken words with openness, horizons begin to merge.

In a fractured social world, the remedy may not lie first in louder speech but in deeper listening.

Meaning is negotiated.
Understanding is fragile.
Distortion is easy.

But so too is reconciliation—if we dare to revisit what was said, how it was heard, and what was meant.

The hermeneutical task, therefore, is not abstract philosophy. It is the daily discipline of reinterpreting the Other with humility. And perhaps in that disciplined negotiation of meaning lies the quiet cure for much of our interpersonal and social strife.

Okom, Emmanuel Njor (PhD)

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