Written in the 1960s, TRUTH AND METHOD is Gadamer's magnum opus.

Written in the 1960s, TRUTH AND METHOD is Gadamer's magnum opus. Looking behind the self-consciousness of science, he discusses the tense relationship between truth and methodology. In examining the different experiences of truth, he aims to "present the hermeneutic phenomenon in its fullest extent.

This article reflects on Truth and Method , the seminal work of Hans Georg Gadamer. The main argument developed here justifies why the work has become a classic in the philosophical literature. Further arguments survey the thematic aspects that make up the book and the importance that Truth and Method grants to humanism as a horizon from which the status of the humanities and humanistic knowledge is justified. The article also presents a smooth approach to the (...) main categories of Gadamer's hermeneutics and is an open invitation to re-read this classic. Resumen En este artículo se reflexiona sobre “ Verdad y Método ”, la obra fundamental de Hans Georg Gadamer. El argumento principal desarrollado justifica por qué la obra ha llegado a ser un clásico de la literatura filosófica. Los argumentos secundarios se detienen en los aspectos temáticos que componen el libro y en la importancia que “ Verdad y Método ” concede al humanismo como horizonte desde el cual se justifica el status de las humanidades y los saberes humanísticos. El artículo presenta también una fluida aproximación a las principales categorías de la hermenéutica gadameriana y es una invitación abierta a la relectura de este clásico. (shrink)

As is well known, Plato was a significant influence on Gadamer’s thought. Nevertheless, Gadamer’s interpretation of Plato changed through the years, and he became increasing sympathetic towards Plato in his later works after 1960’s Truth and Method. This article will examine how Gadamer’s writings on Plato after Truth and Method may inform our interpretation of his magnum opus. I will present the case that this not only leads to rethinking Gadamer’s relation to Plato, but also has (...) wider implications for his hermeneutics and for potential reconsiderations of key aspects of the text. I point to the possibility that if we do not sufficiently appreciate these changes in Gadamer’s interpretation of Plato, this may not only distort our understanding of Gadamer’s reading of Plato, but perhaps more importantly neglect how Platonic conceptions may inform his own hermeneutic project as it is outlined in Truth and Method. (shrink)

Gadamer's Truth and Method: A Polyphonic Commentary offers a fresh look at Gadamer's magnum opus, Truth and Method, which was first published in German in 1960, translated into English in 1975, and is widely recognized as a ground-breaking text of philosophical hermeneutics. The volume features essays from fourteen scholars--both established and rising stars--each of which cover a portion of Truth and Method following the order of the text itself. The result is a robust, historically (...) and thematically rich polyphonic reading of the text as a whole, valuable both for scholarship and teaching. (shrink)

Gadamer's book extends and codifies the main hermeneutical concepts of Bultmann, Heidegger, and their adherents, and can be considered a summa of what Robinson calls "The New Hermeneutic." By Robinson and other theologians, and by Continental literary critics, Wahrheit und Methode has been welcomed as a philosophical justification for "vital and relevant" interpretations that are unencumbered by a concern for the author's original intention. On this point "The New Hermeneutic" reveals its affinities with "The New Criticism" and the newer "Myth (...) Criticism." All three have impugned the author's prerogative to be the determiner of textual meaning. Gadamer, however, grounds his anti-intentionalism only partially in aesthetics and not at all in the collective unconscious but primarily in the radical historicism of Martin Heidegger. (shrink)

The Buddha famously enunciated the four reliances: “Rely on the teaching, not the teacher; rely on the meaning, not the words; rely on the definitive, not that which requires further interpretation; rely on direct insight, not conceptuality.” This chapter explores methodological problems arising in Buddhist philosophy. It addresses hermeneutical questions about the special problems involved in interpreting texts across cultures and considers problems that arise from translation and the consideration of philosophy conducted in radically different vocabularies and cultural registers. It (...) proposes a conversational model of engagement and suggests that this engagement can deepen not only Western philosophers’ understanding of Buddhist and other non-Western philosophy, but of Western philosophy as well. (shrink)

In reviewing the contents of the first to five speakers, we back up to the United States in writing "real and reasonable method" when the issues faced in: scientific research methods than in the general concept Concept in humanities research methods; and people in the academic literature on the low-order. We first consider how the amount of Dilthey and Heidegger deal with these issues. Ⅰ. Natural sciences and humanities approach argue Dilthey tried to explain the expression of human literature, (...) there is a independent but equally effective method of theoretical foundation. In German, Geisteswissenschaften range widely from the arts and sociology. The rise of hermeneutics, Dilthey, in his famous thesis, the mean deep to begin with Homer to explain the hope臘who traveled through Roman times and hope臘. However, Dilthey still seek to achieve "universal and effective " results, which makes him turn to the scientific method. Heidegger's teacher, Hu stopper Seoul , rather than with the mathematical background of the humanities, to use phenomenology to philosophy as a "rigorous science ". Conversely, neural science and philosophy with Heidegger humanities background. This makes Heidegger's hermeneutics of Dilthey and his interest. Heidegger was a critic of scientific objectivity, and even have commentaries description: "Scientists do not think" . His search for the source of the problem of modernity to Descartes who, because of Cartesian subjectivity of the world as a projection. Ⅱ. Up to the U.S. desire to restore the respect for human studies of up to U.S. desire to restore respect for the human sciences, but he does not find the key steps in Dilthey, but in Heidegger's "Art works of origin >. Ⅲ. Up to the United States after the Western aesthetic of Kant's critique of Gadamer to use his real art of management for the new hole to criticize the police after Kant the aesthetic development. This is the "true management and methods" section of the important elements. Ⅳ. Heidegger in breakthrough in the art lecture on Heidegger, providing up to restore the emphasis on the United States who required breakthrough in the planning literature. Ⅴ. Methods exist regardless hermeneutics the implications of Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics can be seen as a new understanding of the analysis, so that his exposure to critical science and humanities in the nature of the two methods. Ⅵ. The universality of hermeneutics Gadamer in the "real and reasonable method" after the publication of a thesis advocated, he analyzed the universality of understanding can be applied in science and humanities in the training. Regardless of this guide provide us some background to explore the "real management and methods" in the 14 key concepts, these concepts will be in the seventh, eight speakers presented. After reviewing the content of Lectures 1-5, we turn to the issue that Gadamer was confronting when he wrote Truth and Method: the general sense of the superiority of scientific methods of research over humanistic methods, and the lower status of the humanities in academe . We first consider this issue in Dilthey and Heidegger. Section Ⅰ: The Contest over Methods in the Natural and Human Sciences Dilthey attempted to articulate a separate but equally valid methodological basis for interpretation in the humanities. In Germany, the range of the Geisteswissenschaften was wide, from art to sociology. In his famous essay on the rise of hermeneutics, Dilthey started, significantly, with the Greek interpreters of Homer and moved up through Greek and Roman times. Nevertheless, Dilthey was still seeking to achieve "universally valid" results , which moved him in the direction of scientific methods. Heidegger's teacher, Husserl, had a background in mathematics rather than the humanities and wanted to use phenomenology to make philosophy into a "rigorous science." Heidegger, in contrast, had a humanistic background in theology and philosophy and especially Greek philosophy. This caused him to be interested in Dilthey and his hermeneutics. Heidegger was a critic of scientific objectivity and once even remarked, "The scientist does not think." He traced the problems of modernity back to Descartes, who saw the world as a projection of his subjectivity. Section Ⅱ. Gadamer's Desire to Restore Respect to the Human Studies Gadamer desired to restore re spect to the human sciences, but he found the decisive step for doing so not in Dilthey but in Heidegger's The Origin of the Work of Art. Section Ⅲ: Gadamer's critique of Western aesthetics since Kant Gadamer used his new insight into the truth of art to criticize the development of aesthetics since Kant. This is a major element in the first section of Truth and Method. Section Ⅳ: Heidegger's Breakthrough in "The Origin of the Artwork" Heidegger's lectures on art offered Gadamer the breakthrough he needed in his project of restoring respect to the humanities. Section Ⅴ: The Implications of an Ontological Hermeneutics for Method Gadamer's new philosophical hermeneutics as an analysis of understanding put him in a position to criticize method per se in both the sciences and humanities. Section Ⅵ: The Universality of Hermeneutics In an essay published after Truth and Method Gadamer moved toward asserting the universality of his analysis of understanding as applying both to scientific disciplines and to the humanities. Understanding here was understanding universally, in general, in all respects. With this introduction we have some background for exploring the fourteen key concepts in Truth and Method itself that will be presented in lectures 7 and 8. (shrink)

Since the publication of Wahrheit und Methode in 1960 (Tfibingen), Gadamer's hermeneutics has called forth a varied and fruitful response from the Continent, without receiving anything near the same attention from the English-speaking world. Though E. D. Hirsch thought Gadamer sufficiently important in 1965 to merit an early rebuttal and rehabilitation (Validity in Interpretation [New Haven, Conn., 1967], pp. 245-64), Wahrheit und Methode remained unread in England and America, partly because a translation was not available until 1975 (Truth and (...) Method, ed. Garrett Barden and John Cumming [New York]). Even after that date, Gadamer's influence on Anglo-American debate has been largely secondhand, filtering in through such figures as Paul Ricoeur and Jiurgen Habermas. But a renewed interest in the question of what we are to make of tradition, no doubt spurred in large measure by deconstruction's effort to unmake it, has lent Gadamer a new pertinence. One sign that his stock is on the rise is the publication of Joel Weinsheimer's Gadamer's Hermeneutics, a much needed and admirably written introduction to Truth and Method that should push its value even higher. -- JSTOR (June 12, 2012.). (shrink)

This paper offers a new interpretation of the young Spinoza’s method of distinguishing the true ideas from the false, which shows that his answer to the sceptic is not a failure. This method combines analysis and synthesis as follows: if we can say of the object of an idea which simple things underlie it, how it can be constructed out of simple elements, and what properties it has after it has been produced, doubt concerning the object simply makes (...) no sense. The paper also suggests a way in which this methodology connects to the ontology of the Ethics. (shrink)

In these learned essays, Joseph M. Levine shows how the idea and method of modern history first began to develop during the Renaissance, when a clear distinction between history and fiction was first proposed. The new claims for history were met by a new skepticism in a debate that still echoes today. Levine's first three essays discuss Thomas More's preoccupation with the distinction between history and fiction Erasmus's biblical criticism and the contribution of Renaissance philology to critical method (...) and the way in which Renaissance rhetoric, as in Thomas Elyot's Book of the Governor, continued to inhibit the autonomy of history. He then shows how these issues persisted into the eighteenth century, even as critical method developed. He concludes with a close description of the great controversy that culminated in Edward Gibbon's day over the authenticity of a biblical text that had been used for centuries to defend the Trinity but which turned out to be a forgery. Levine shows how by then all sides were ready to concede the autonomy of history. (shrink)

The appearance of this anonymous translation of Hans-Georg Gadamer’s major work, Wahrheit und Methode finally makes available to English readers the single most important study of the origin, development, and nature of the concept and meaning of "hermeneutical consciousness" extant.

Gadamer's attempt to 'rehabilitate tradition' in general clarifies that which theology and the human sciences have in common since he claims that the rehabilitation of tradition is crucial for all human science enquiry. His systematic unfolding of the hermeneutical process described in Truth and Method is discussed under three headings: The meaning of tradition and how the idea of tradition may be rehabilitated; how do we know in the human sciences? and, the nature of theological reflection as part (...) of the human sciences. Gadamer's hermeneutics helps to transcend the antithesis between reason and tradition. It offers a more appropriate way to under stand cultural and historical texts and broadens the purview of the human sciences. It is within this broader understanding of the human sciences that theological reflection comes to itself. S. Afr. J. Philos. Vol.21(4) 2002: 345-358. (shrink)

Why do many people think religion is subjective? Or symbolic? Or non-rational? This book brings together eighteen important twentieth-century essays on these questions, by authors ranging from Ludwig Wittgenstein to Richard Rorty and Clifford Geertz. The editors show that such questions are both quite modern and powerfully influential in our Western thinking about religious belief. Moreover, they lead directly into the three most popular theories that attempt to make sense of religion: positivism, functionalism, and relativism. Selecting essays that represent each (...) of these three theoretical positions, Frankenberry and Penner trace their incoherence and argue for a new method and theory for understanding religious beliefs. (shrink)

Science and language; Axioms; Deduction and induction; Probability and statistics; The methodological structure of the natural sciences.

Ni le potreba po logični samorazjasnitvi tista, ki duhoslovne znanosti povezuje s filozofijo. Gre predvsem za to, da ti. duhoslovne znanosti same predstavljajo problem za filozofijo: kar je bilo povedano in kar se da povedati o njihovi logični, spoznavnoteoretski utemeljitvi in o razlogih za njihovo znanstveno samostojnost v razmerju do naravoslovnih znanosti, daleč zaostaja za tem, kar duhoslovne znanosti so in kar pomenijo filozofiji.The need for logical self-explication is not the only thing that relates human sciences to philosophy. The primary (...) reason for it is that the so-called human sciences themselves represent an issue for philosophy: what has been and can be said about their logical, epistemological foundation and about the reasons for their scientific independence in relation to natural sciences is lagging behind what human sciences are and mean to philosophy. (shrink)

Teologia już niejednokrotnie składała współczesnej myśli filozoficznej obietnicę poszerzenia horyzontów czy też otwarcia jej na transcendencję. Jednak obietnica ta nie spotkała się – jak dotąd – z przychylnym przyjęciem, gdyż teologia sama nie zdołała przekonać filozofii o swojej racjonalności. Filozofia przestała być bowiem, z jednej strony, wrażliwa na argumentację natury metafizycznej, z drugiej zaś, teologia jest skłonna poddawać się metodologiom nauk szczegółowych, rezygnując przy tym z własnej odrębności. Zarysowana tu hermeneutyka teologii jest w pierwszym rzędzie badaniem teologii jako nauki, próbą (...) uprawomocnienia jej na gruncie jednego z najważniejszych kierunków filozofii współczesnej, mianowicie hermeneutyki filozoficznej. Teologia zostaje tu ujęta w aspekcie immanencji, choć bynajmniej nie zamyka się w jej horyzoncie. Dziejący się świat teologii rozpada się na „kawałki” – miejsca teologiczne – które jednak wchodząc ze sobą w interakcje, uczestniczą w grze teologicznej. Jako pole owej gry zostaje wskazana liturgia, miejsce metodologicznie wyróżnione ze względu na naoczność dokonujących się konsekwencji gry teologicznej. Analiza czerpie z takich źródeł jak teoria miejsc teologicznych Melchiora Cano OP, koncepcja kręgu hermeneutycznego Martina Heideggera oraz projekt hermeneutyki filozoficznej Hansa-Georga Gadamera, ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem roli prze(d)sądów, utożsamianych tutaj z miejscami teologicznymi. Nowość spojrzenia na tradycję katolicką kontekście myśli hermeneutycznej sprawia, że prezentowana książka może trafić nie tylko do teologów i filozofów, ale także do badaczy szeroko rozumianej kultury. (shrink)

Celebrates the 50th anniversary of the publication of one of the most important philosophical works in the 20th century with essays by most of the leading figures in contemporary hermeneutic theory.

Knowledge requires truth, and truth, we suppose, involves unflawed representation. Science does not provide knowledge in this sense but rather provides models, representations that are limited in their accuracy, precision, or, most often, both. Truth as we usually think of it is an idealization, one that serves wonderfully in most ordinary applications, but one that can terribly mislead for certain issues in philosophy. This article sketches how this happens for five important issues, thereby showing how philosophical (...) class='Hi'>method must take into account the idealized nature of our familiar conception of truth. (shrink)