Advising with Understanding: Considering Hermeneutic Theory in Academic Advising

One might say that good advising requires understanding of those being advised. Yet, the way to achieve an accurate understanding of each advisee is unclear. An introduction to the field of hermeneutics, including an outline of Martin Heidegger's notion of human being and existential understanding, is presented to offer advisors a new opportunity to think closely about how to approach the work of understanding the advisee. Hermeneutic theory is presented, not as a new methodological approach to advising, but as a way of reconceptualizing what ought to be involved in the process of understanding the individual advisee.