Continental · 1900–2002

Hans-Georg Gadamer

Heidegger’s student, who made hermeneutics a philosophy of understanding

Gadamer argued that understanding is not a method but an event: we always interpret from within tradition and its prejudices, and truth emerges in a “fusion of horizons” between our present and the text.

Life and thought

Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900–2002) grew up in Breslau and Marburg, where he studied with Heidegger and in 1929 completed his habilitation under him. He spent the Nazi years teaching in Leipzig, briefly served as its rector under Soviet occupation, and settled in Heidelberg in 1949. Truth and Method appeared only in 1960, when he was sixty; he lived to 102, still lecturing and debating.

Gadamer argued that understanding is not a technique for removing our biases but something that happens to us within a tradition. We always approach a text with “prejudices”, pre-judgements inherited from history and language, and these are not only obstacles but the very conditions that let the text speak to us. Understanding is a “fusion of horizons”: our questions and the text’s world meet and both are changed, as in a good conversation. Habermas objected that tradition can also hide domination, and their debate defined post-war hermeneutics.

Hermeneutics

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Works

1960Truth and Method

Teachers

1889–1976Martin HeideggerGerman philosopher of Being, compromised by his Nazi party membership

Shaped by

c. 428–348 BCEPlatoSocrates’ student, founder of the Academy, master of the dialogue 384–322 BCEAristotleGadamer modelled understanding on Aristotle’s practical wisdom (phronesis).

Shaped

1913–2005Paul RicœurFrench philosopher who joined phenomenology, hermeneutics and narrative

Argued against

1833–1911Wilhelm DiltheyGadamer criticised Dilthey for seeking objectivity through method.

Criticised by

1929–2026Jürgen HabermasHabermas argued that hermeneutics must be joined to a critique of ideology.

Meanwhile, in other traditions

1893–1988Liang ShumingPhilosopher and rural reformer, called “the last Confucian”1895–1990Feng YoulanHistorian of Chinese philosophy and builder of a “new principle learning”1900–1990Nishitani KeijiKyoto School thinker of nihilism and emptiness 1900–1976Gilbert RyleOxford philosopher who mocked the “ghost in the machine”1902–1994Karl PopperViennese-born philosopher of science and defender of the open society 1908–2000W. V. O. QuineHarvard logician who attacked the analytic–synthetic distinction