What, precisely, does the word hermeneutics mean? And in what sense can one speak of the hermeneutics of original argument? In ""The hermeneutics of Original Argument"", P. Christopher Smith explores these questions in building upon Heidegger's hermeneutical thought. In applying Heidegger's basic notion that hermeneutics is not a doctrine of interpretation but is its actual execution, Smith explores the structure and nature of argument as it originally occurs. The task of the book is thus to get behind logical demonstration and dialectic, and, following Heidegger's hermeneutical strategy, to ""lay bare"" and ""lay out"" the origins of argument in rhetoric. In this way Smith seeks to overcome the contemporary preoccupation with visible writing and to recover our original, communal experience of hearing the spoken word.