Abstract In Gadamer's later writings on art, his investigation into the being of the work exploits the temporal resonance of the concept of performative enactment ( Vollzug ), which displaces the priority of play ( Spiel ) in his earlier account. Drawing upon Heidegger, Gadamer deploys the concepts of tarrying ( Verweilen ) and the while ( die Weile ) to elucidate the temporality of the work of art as an event of being. On the one hand, tarrying describes the (...) temporal structure of the performance that enables the work to come forth. On the other hand, the while characterizes the unique presence of the work that takes place in and through its enactment. Here Gadamer's understanding of art engages his thought about “empty“ and “fulfilled“ time. For, the temporal event of the artwork is such that it interrupts the ordinary experience of passing time and thereby opens up another, more authentic experience of the fullness of time. (shrink)

Gadamer’s question “Are Poets Falling Silent?” is motivated by the “linguistic need” of modern lyric indicative of the “forgetfulness of language” that prevails today. In Paul Celan’s late work, Gadamer finds poetry that, bordering on the cryptic, stands on the verge of silence. Nevertheless, he insists that these poems do speak and that the title of Celan’s poem series, Breath-crystal, figures the truth of the poetic word. From this standpoint the paper discusses Gadamer’s hermeneutic understanding of the poetic word treating (...) the constitutive elements of the poetic word as an event of language, the way this conception of the poetic word both embraces and yet departs from the usual understanding of the radical turn to language in modern lyric, and the meaning of Gadamer’s claim regarding the truth of the poetic word that fulfills the original saying power of language. (shrink)

The poetry of Paul Celan, particularly his late work, offers a considerable challenge to hermeneutics.1 Stammering on the verge of silence, these poems expose understanding to its own limits.2 Yet,...

Posing the question of beauty anew, Gadamer pursues a hermeneutic remembrance of the original relation of beauty and truth forgotten by modern aesthetics. For Gadamer, the essential relation of kalos and aletheia is preserved, above all, in Plato. This essay elaborates his retrieval of Plato, re-thinking the splendor of beauty and the illumination of truth from being as an event of coming-to-presence. After discussing his engagement with Heidegger the essay reconstructs Gadamer’s interpretative argument, showing how he interprets the transcendence, radiance, (...) and measure that characterize Plato’s idea of the beautiful as structural features of being as an event of truth. (shrink)

This essay traces the trajectory of Gadamer’s retrieval of mimesis by reconstructing his interpretation of Aristotle’s Poetics. Mimesis names the transformationthat takes place when the work constitutes a structure (Gebilde) that offers a presentation (Darstellung) in which the spectator participates. The reconstructiontreats Gadamer’s interpretation of mythos, mimesis, and katharsis as he appropriates them to his understanding of the work as a “transformation into structure” which is a “transformation into the true” that effects a self-transformation in the spectator. By transforming mimesis (...) Gadamer retrieves this ancient concept for the hermeneutic understanding of the work of art as an event of being. (shrink)

This essay traces the trajectory of Gadamer’s retrieval of mimesis by reconstructing his interpretation of Aristotle’s Poetics. Mimesis names the transformationthat takes place when the work constitutes a structure (Gebilde) that offers a presentation (Darstellung) in which the spectator participates. The reconstructiontreats Gadamer’s interpretation of mythos, mimesis, and katharsis as he appropriates them to his understanding of the work as a “transformation into structure” which is a “transformation into the true” that effects a self-transformation in the spectator. By transforming mimesis (...) Gadamer retrieves this ancient concept for the hermeneutic understanding of the work of art as an event of being. (shrink)

The twelve essays contained in this important volume address the fundamental, but elusive, topic of hermeneutic truth. To their credit, these authors succeed in illuminating and developing what Gadamer leaves largely unthematized in Truth and Method. Refusing to accept the disjunction of truth and interpretation, they share the conviction that there is, as Wachterhauser's introduction says, "truth after interpretation".

Given the centrality of art for Nietzsche it is surprising that Julian Young's book is the first to address its import for Nietzsche's philosophy as a whole. For this reason alone Nietzsche's Philosophy of Art is a welcome addition to the growing literature on Nietzsche in English. More than that, this study contains a comprehensive, yet concise, account of this topic that soberly elucidates and evaluates Nietzsche's shifting arguments and positions.