1.4.1 Preservation: Avoiding Misunderstanding
Schleiermacher defined hermeneutics as an art to avoid misunderstanding.He believed that the way to better understand the text and author is “putting oneself in possession of all the conditions of understanding.”[16]An interpreter should enter ‘inner thoughts’ of author to understand his ‘outer expression’.This psychological empathy phenomenon may grasp the author’s original intent, and interpret the text objectively.
Although the complete objective ‘empathy’ does not really exist at all, trying as much as possible to research and understand the original materials and the point of view of the author will undoubtedly benefit the preservation process of cultural heritage.Every historical personality’s residence is a precious unreproducible cultural heritage.Its preservation requires strict adherence to the original.Any mistake will destroy the heritage, even lead to irreparable damage.Therefore, avoiding misunderstanding is a necessary condition during the restoration process, so as to effectively maintain the authenticity and integrity of these historic significant residence.(https://www.daowen.com)
Furthermore, Schleiermacher considered understanding as a part-whole relationship.For understanding the part, we must refer to whole context, and for getting the whole meaning, the details of part are essential.This is an iterative process.The process of historic residence preservation manifests a part-whole circle to create a tight relationship among the social context, architecture designer, user, researchers and visitors.The understanding of residence’s details depends on the understanding of whole historic context, such as historical figure’s anecdotes, social context, surrounding construction and local culture.To correctly understand the whole context atmosphere, it is essential to understand every detail of the residence.