Abstract

This is a study in philosophical hermeneutics, a descriptive theory about the nature of understanding. The central theme of Hans-Georg Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics is that understanding is an event. It is something that happens to us rather than something we control. Many critics, beginning with Jurgen Habermas, have argued that this passive view of understanding amounts to an acquiescence to tradition. ;My purpose, in this thesis, is to re-examine Gadamer's descriptive claims about understanding to determine whether such conclusions concerning the uncritical and submissive nature of understanding are warranted. The thesis ranges from an attempt to establish the hermeneutic identity of objects of understanding to an exploration of the political theory most consistent with philosophical hermeneutics. Throughout I am always concerned with one central question--the question of whether understanding does or does not involve a critical assessment of what is understood without following procedural rules of interpretation and without relying on previously determined standards of evaluation. I argue that Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics describes understanding as a continually evaluative process in which the standards of evaluation are themselves constantly subject to revision. Contrary to the often repeated criticism that philosophical hermeneutics is most compatible with a conservative political position I argue that Gadamer's commitment to dialogue is most likely to be realized in a democracy committed to establishing consensus