Humanities 2.0: Document, interpretation and intersubjectivity in the digital age

With their focus on documents, interpretation and intersubjectivity, Web 2.0 technologies have surprising analogies with philosophical hermeneutics, the theory of texts interpretation. Philosophical hermeneutics was generalised from biblical hermeneutics by Dilthey in the 19th century, and chosen as an alternative to positivism as a foundation for the epistemology and methodology of the humanities and social sciences. This article explores how Web 2.0 technologies might better meet the needs of social and human sciences than traditional information technologies that are historically bound with logical positivism. Illustrations are provided from archaeology and sociology, two social and human sciences which were early adopters of punched cards and computers.The Journal permits the Author to use his/her article elsewhere, after the date of its publication in the Journal, in other works or for the purposes of the Author's teaching and research. Full acknowledgement in the form of a full citation must be given to the Journal as the original source of publication, together with a link to the Journal web page and/or DOI. In addition, the Author may post a postprint of the Article (defined as the Author's post-peer review, accepted paper submitted for final publication by Inderscience) on the author's personal web pages or in a repository operated by the institution to which the Author is affiliated. In all cases, full acknowledgement as stated above must be given to the Journal as the original source of publication.SCOPUS: ar.j