Software Engineering aims to develop software in a “systematic, con-trolled and quantifiable” way, through the application of a series of combined and integrated activities.

In order to define what the software should do, it includes the execution of the activity Requirements Engineering, whose purpose is to identify, examine and specify the context of the software to be developed. Software development depends primarily on this activity.

However, there is a growing problem: to understand the context of the software to be developed.

This manuscript presents a proposal that face this problem through the application of Hermeneutical Engineering of Requirements, which is made up of two instruments: Hermeneutical Elicitation of Requirements and Hermeneutical Theodolite of Requirements.

The Hermeneutical Elicitation of Requirements uses hermeneutic methods suitable specifically for Requirements Engineering, which will help the requirements engineer to better understand the originals business needs to be met.

The Hermeneutical Theodolite of Requirements is an instrument composed of two mechanisms: one that evaluates and presents the levels of understanding and difficulty that the requirements engineer has in relation to the domain of the application, and another that evaluates and presents the quality grades, and to the levels of difficulty, of the software requirements. Thus, it will be possible to establish strategies to improve the application of Hermeneutical Elicitation of Requirements.

With this, the Hermeneutical Engineering of Requirements will help the requirements engineer to better understand the context of the software being developed and thus be him able to determine and better build the software requirements.