ABSTRACT

Humanistic study, and especially its phenomenological method, shares a great deal with post-structuralism through hermeneutics. Much of the structuralist criticism is undoubtedly justified, but it does not change the fact that while structures and conceptual environments do shape experiences and do express certain power relations, experiences still contain personal meanings that cannot be reduced to these. In hermeneutic study texts can be seen as layers of meanings and also as expressions of lived experiences. Therefore the politics and power of representation can be equally meaningful aspect of enquiry in both humanistic and post-structural study. The subjective contents of experiences are the sphere in which the post-structural approach provides less insight than the phenomenological one. The humanistic approach, distinguishable from, though closely associated with phenomenology, is existentialism. Together with phenomenology it provides a framework that neatly complements post-structural approach.