The article is dedicated to issues dealt with hermeneutics as one of îfficient ways of interpretation of texts of historical-philosophic type. The problem of interpretation relates to the sphere of sign problems, the study of which requires a direct appeal to philosophy, since interpretation cannot be considered an absolutely arbitrary process caused by a spontaneous desire or intention of a subject free from any restrictions. And the first factor limiting the arbitrariness of the subject which has its effect on the nature of the interpretation is the semiotic certainty of the phenomenon being interpreted. The term "interpretation" is often used in a meaning similar to explanation (expounding). Considering the interpretation procedure as one of the components of the explanation we mean a narrow understanding of it. In this sense, it means a procedure for establishing the meaning of terms and statements of the theoretical system reflected in the text. In this sense, the term "meaning" is interpreted by us both as a meaning and as a reference of the interpreted phenomenon. It is clear that such a notion of the meaning is vulnerable to criticism from those who interpret a meaning either as a sense or as a reference. However, up to now there are no generally accepted arguments in favor of the first or second point of view. Of course, a more subtle analysis will make it possible to distinguish the forms of the interpretation procedure for instances of establishing the meaning and reference of the object of interpretation. The concepts of meaning and interpretation are fundamentally correlated and complementary: they express the basic content of a complicated and complex problem of human understanding of reality. Special attention should be paid to such central notions of the problem of understanding as meaning and interpretation, the role and significance of which can be traced in distinguishing two main traditions in philosophy related to the problem of understanding: 1. "analytical tradition" developed mainly within the framework of an English-language philosophy oriented on logical and semantic analysis of natural language and formalized language systems and 2. "hermeneutic" tradition, developed in the framework of the "continental" European philosophy