Gadamer S Dialectical Hermeneutics

Gadamer's Dialectical Hermeneutics contributes to the growing literature that takes seriously the significance of Plato for Gadamer's hermeneutics. What distinguishes this book is the way in which Lauren Swayne Barthold argues for a dialectic central to Gadamer's hermeneutics, one that recalls the Platonic chorismos, or separation, between the transcendent and sensory realms. Barthold demonstrates that Gadamer, too, insisted on the "in-between" nature of human understanding as characterized by Hermes: we are finite beings always striving for infinity--that which lies beyond being. Such a dialectical reading brings clarity to several themes crucial to, and contested within, Gadamer's hermeneutics. First, we are helped to see that Gadamer affirms the roles of both theory and practice for hermeneutics. Second, we are able to appreciate the nature of truth as the event of understanding--that into which we enter as opposed to that which stands apart from us as a criterion. Third, we gain insight into the significance of dialogue for understanding, including the necessary role of the other. And finally, we are able to substantiate the meaning of the good-beyond-being, as a key component to understanding. Gadamer's Dialectical Hermeneutics presents a reading of Gadamer that avoids the labels of realism or essentialism, and shows his primary motivation is to uncover the ethical, indeed dialectically ethical, and practical nature of philosophy.

In Gadamer’s Hermeneutics Robert J. Dostal provides a comprehensive and critical account of Hans-Georg Gadamer’s hermeneutical philosophy, arguing that Gadamer’s enterprise is rooted in the thesis that “being that can be understood is language.” He defends Gadamer against charges of linguistic idealism and emphasizes language’s relationship to understanding, though he criticizes Gadamer for too often ignoring the role of the prelinguistic in our experience. Dostal goes on to explain the concept of the "inner word" for Gadamer’s account of language. The book situates Gadamer’s hermeneutics in three important ways: in relation to the contestability of the legacy of the Enlightenment project; in relation to the work of his mentor, Martin Heidegger; and in relation to Gadamer’s reading of Plato and Aristotle. Dostal explores both Gadamer’s claim on the Enlightenment and his ambivalence toward it. He considers Gadamer’s dependence on Heidegger’s accomplishment while pointing out the ways in which Gadamer charted his own course, rejecting his teacher’s reading of Plato and his antihumanism. Dostal points out notable differences in the philosophers’ politics as well. Finally, Dostal mediates between Gadamer’s hermeneutics and what might be called philological hermeneutics. His analysis defends the civic humanism that is the culmination of the philosopher’s hermeneutics, a humanism defined by moral education, common sense, judgment, and taste. Supporters and critics of Gadamer’s philosophy will learn much from this major achievement.

Tracing the development of the notion of the dialectic from the classical Greek thinkers to the modern thinkers, Gadamer demonstrates that Hegel 'worked out his own dialectical method by extending the dialectic of the Ancients.' Excellently translated, this book is a valuable if demanding addition to Gadamer's philosophical work now available in English.

'This volume presents carefully selected essays from Gadamer's Kleine Schriften. The seven essays comprising Part 1 contain Gadamer's discussion of hermeneutical reflection. Part 2 consists of six essays dealing with phenomenology, existential philosophy, and philosophical hermeneutics.

Tracing the development of the notion of the dialectic from the classical Greek thinkers to the modern thinkers, Gadamer demonstrates that Hegel 'worked out his own dialectical method by extending the dialectic of the Ancients.' Excellently translated, this book is a valuable if demanding addition to Gadamer's philosophical work now available in English.

Hans-Georg Gadamer is one of the leading philosophers in the worldtoday. His philosophical hermeneutics has had a major impact in awide range of disciplines, including the social sciences, literarycriticism, theology and jurisprudence. Truth and Method, his majorwork, is widely recognised to be one of the great classics oftwentieth-century thought. In this book Georgia Warnke provides a clear and systematicexposition of Gadamer's work, as well as a balanced and thoughtfulassessment of his views. Warnke gives particular attention to theways in which Gadamer's work has been taken up and criticised byliterary critics, social theorists and philosophers, such asHirsch, Habermas and Rorty. She thus provides an introduction toGadamer which demonstrates the relevance of his work to currentdebates in a variety of disciplines. This book will be invaluable to students and specialists throughoutthe humanities and social sciences, as well as to anyone who isinterested in the most important developments in contemporarythought.

Plato's Dialectical Ethics, Gadamer's earliest work, has now been translated into English for the first time. This work, published in 1931 and reprinted in 1967 and 1982, is still important today, both as one of the most extensive and imaginative interpretations of Plato's Philebus and as an introduction to Gadamer's thinking, showing how his influential hermeneutics emerged from his application of his teacher Martin Heidegger's phenomenological method to classical texts and problems.

The first book in English on Gadamer's relationship to Heidegger, this study illustrates the philosophical power Gadamer's thinking has achieved by departing from Heidegger's at certain crucial moments.