The contextual dimensions of understanding in Wilhelm Dilthey

This thesis examines the contexts of understanding in Wilhelm Dilthey's thought system. Introduction part is devoted to Dilthey's intellectual life, his works and subsequent studies on him. In the first chapter, the history of the discipline of hermeneutics before Dilthey is given. The Second chapter illuminates the fundamental concepts pf Dilthey's hermeneutics. The third chapter presents Dilthey's forms of understanding as a method for humanities. Unlike natural sciences, Dilthey argues that the subject of humanities can only be understood within its historical, cultural and individual contexts. For human life is a structure that carries meaning and is shaped historically. In this context, meaning emerges from the experiences, and the historical, social ground on which these expressions are based. Thus, meaning is neither purely subjective nor merely objective. Understanding is a reconstructed through interpretation and intertwined with lived experience. In the conclusion part, Dilthey's attempts to separate hermeneutically humanities from the natural sciences are evaluated.