On the hermeneutical nature of modern natural science

Joseph Kockelmans

pp. 299-313

in: Man and World 30 (3), 1997.

Abstract

An effort is made in this essay to show the intrinsic hermeneutic nature of the natural sciences by means of a critical reflection on data taken from the history of classical mechanics and astronomy. The events which eventually would lead to the origin of Newton's mechanics are critically analyzed, with the aim of showing that and in what sense the natural sciences are essentially interpretive enterprises.