Hermeneutics of Suspicion is an expression proposed by Paul Ricœur to denote a specific approach towards the interpretation of the text or discourse in which the main problem is for one to reveal what is not being said, and not so much for what is being said to be understood.
This approach strives to take out on the surface that which is usually remaining hidden but is still important, even crucial for the text or discourse.
Carl Marx and Sigmund Freud are often considered masters of the Hermeneutics of Suspicion.
Marx, for example, has a tendency to unmask ideological distortions, although he, obviously, has always stayed blind to his own logical, thinking, and ideological flaws.
Sigmund Freud, on the other hand, managed (to some degree) to unveil unconscious motives.
Friedrich Nietzsche is also a widely recognized thinker, who was secretly devoted to showing what is happening “behind the scenes”.
See: Hermeneutics
