Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1 M.A in Philosophy, Imam Khomeini International University, Qazvin, Iran.
2 Associate Professor in philosophy, Imam Khomeini International University, Qazvin, Iran.
Abstract
The myth of Gilgamesh is considered to be the first manuscript written by man that has been discovered so far and about the importance of this text, it is sufficient to assert that; this written text - the flower of writing - introduces the origin of Mesopotamian civilization. But more important than this understand the examples of wonder that lead us to the kind of human attitude; they are linked to about 3000 BC! Hermeneutical encounters with this text can therefore provide a clear approach to a deeper understanding of this myth. Paul Ricoeur's hermeneutic theory is, indeed, a synthesis of various ideas. In his view, interpretation is the outcome of the dialectics of explanation and understanding. In Ricoeur's point of view, language is a subject that can be studied. In the following, Ricoeur distinguishes between logical and argumentative thought, which has an instrumental approach, and poetic thought, which is symbolic and metaphorical. Therefore, he takes into account the notions of myths, poetics and narratives and believes that in fact, human imagination, while expanding in the depths of language, allows him to create new words or compound them in a new way to express what is not possible to say. Ricoeur, with his specific definition of metaphor, intends to reveal the effective connection between interpretation and discourse. Because metaphor expresses the aspect of our experience which is motivated to be revealed but not used in our common language. Based on Paul Ricoeur's approach to metaphor, this study seeks to provide a newer interpretation of the prehistoric text of Gilgamesh, which is the closest view to the primitive world of the wise man, who extends the concepts of his life in the form of selected vocabulary.
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