The Temporal Hermeneutic after Geertz

Abstract

The debate on the humanistic, interpretive approach to culture and the contribution of Glifford Geertz has intensified. One of the most prominent enactments of the controversy is Paul Shankman's challenge to Geertz's "interpretive theoretical program" in Current Anthropology (June 1984). The present article will, in turn, critique Shankman and provide an alternative evaluation of Geertz. Far from reaching paradigm ex- haustion, as Shankman contends, the interpretive ap- proach will develop into a temporal hermeneutic paradigm. The basic features of such a temporal her- meneutic will be outlined and then illustrated with data, first, from ancient China, and, second, from my study of a Tibetan community in the Himalayas