Canon
Hermeneutic Circle
/ˌhɜːrməˈnjuːtɪk/
From Greek "interpretation" — understanding through parts and whole
Published January 8, 2026
What It Means
You understand sentences through words, and words through sentences. Neither comes first—meaning emerges through going back and forth. At CREATE SOMETHING, this describes how our properties work together: philosophy shapes practice, practice tests philosophy, and the whole system evolves.
Where It Comes From
This started with interpreting religious texts—you need the whole book to understand a verse, but you need verses to understand the book. Friedrich Schleiermacher turned this into a formal method.
Heidegger took it further in Being and Time (1927). For him, the circle isn't a problem to solve—it's how understanding works. We always bring assumptions that shape what we see. Each pass through the circle deepens what we know.
Gadamer built on this in Truth and Method (1960): understanding is always shaped by context and history. You bring your perspective to a text; the text expands your perspective. Understanding isn't copying—it's transformation.
The Structure of Understanding
The hermeneutic circle operates at multiple levels:
Text Level
Words ↔ Sentences ↔ Paragraphs ↔ Document
Understanding "bank" requires context; context requires understanding "bank."
Interpretation Level
Reader ↔ Text ↔ Author ↔ Tradition
We read with questions; the text answers and transforms our questions.
Existence Level
Self ↔ World ↔ Others ↔ Being
Understanding ourselves requires understanding our world; understanding our world requires understanding ourselves.
In Canon
CREATE SOMETHING operates as a hermeneutic system. Each property informs and is informed by the others:
.ltd
Being-as-Canon
Philosophy. Defines principles, articulates the Canon. Provides criteria for judging what is and isn't aligned.
.io
Being-as-Document
Research. Validates approaches, documents patterns. Tests philosophical claims against technical reality.
.space
Being-as-Experience
Practice. Experiments, templates, learning. Where patterns become products at scale.
.agency
Being-as-Service
Services. Client work, commercial application. Where philosophy meets market reality.
No property is foundational. Philosophy without practice is abstract; practice without philosophy is blind. The system understands itself through circulation.
Templates Platform Example
The Templates Platform demonstrates the hermeneutic circle in infrastructure:
1. Canon defines appearance
.ltd articulates what Canon-compliant sites look like: pure black, Canon tokens, Weniger, aber besser.
2. Research validates patterns
.io documents the patterns—CSS Canon, component architecture, deployment patterns. Technical feasibility tests philosophical claims.
3. Practice builds templates
.space creates vertical templates embodying the patterns. Templates Platform routes requests, injects config, serves sites.
4. Services tests with clients
.agency sells template customizations. Client feedback reveals what works and what doesn't in commercial reality.
5. Philosophy evolves
Insights from client work flow back to .ltd. The Canon itself evolves. What was once experimental becomes canonical.
The Circle Test
When evaluating a contribution to any property, ask:
"How does this participate in the whole?"
A component on .space should embody .ltd principles, use patterns documented on .io, and be applicable to .agency work. If it doesn't participate in the circle, it's isolated— and isolation is the first sign of disconnection.
Fore-Understanding
Heidegger emphasized that we never approach anything without presuppositions. This "fore-structure" has three components:
- Fore-having (Vorhabe) — The context we bring. A designer approaches CSS differently than a philosopher. Both are valid entry points.
- Fore-sight (Vorsicht) — The perspective that guides our looking. We see what we're oriented to see. The Canon orients perception.
- Fore-conception (Vorgriff) — The concepts we use to articulate what we find. "Zuhandenheit" makes visible what "usability" obscures.
These are not biases to eliminate but conditions of understanding. The hermeneutic circle transforms fore-understanding through encounter with what is understood.
Vicious vs. Productive Circles
Not all circles are the same:
Vicious Circle
Assumption → Confirmation → Same Assumption
Closed loop. Nothing new enters. The conclusion is smuggled into the premise. No growth, no learning.
Productive Circle
Understanding → Encounter → Transformed Understanding
Open spiral. Each iteration deepens. What we understood transforms through what we encounter. Growth and learning emerge.
The difference is openness to transformation. A productive circle is vulnerable— willing to have its assumptions challenged by what it encounters.
Relation to Other Concepts
The hermeneutic circle connects Canon's conceptual vocabulary:
- Zuhandenheit is hermeneutically prior—we understand through use before theory. The hammer's meaning is in hammering, not measurement.
- Vorhandenheit emerges from breakdown, which is itself hermeneutically significant—failure reveals what was presupposed.
- Weniger, aber besser is a hermeneutic discipline: subtraction clarifies the whole by removing what obscures part-whole relations.
- Gelassenheit enables productive circulation—openness to being transformed by what is encountered.
References
- Heidegger, Martin. Being and Time. Trans. Macquarrie & Robinson. New York: Harper & Row, 1962. §32.
- Gadamer, Hans-Georg. Truth and Method. Trans. Weinsheimer & Marshall. London: Continuum, 2004.
- Ricoeur, Paul. Hermeneutics and the Human Sciences. Cambridge University Press, 1981.
- Canon Foundations: Philosophy
- Canon Concept: Zuhandenheit