HANS-GEORG GADAMER (1900-2002) was a German philosopher and the decisive figure in the development of twentieth century hermeneutics.

Trained in neo-Kantian scholarship, as well as in classical philology, and profoundly affected by the philosophy of Martin Heidegger, Gadamer developed a distinctive and thoroughly dialogical approach, grounded in Platonic-Aristotelian as well as Heideggerian thinking, that rejects subjectivism and relativism, abjures any simple notion of interpretive method, and grounds understanding in the linguistically mediated happening of tradition.

Gadamer is best known for his 1960 magnum opus, TRUTH AND METHOD (Wahrheit und Methode).  His philosophical project was to elaborate on the concept of "philosophical hermeneutics" which Heidegger initiated but never dealt with at length.  He was critical of two approaches to the human sciences.  On the one hand, he was critical of modern approaches to humanities that modelled themselves on the natural sciences (and thus on rigorous scientific methods).  On the other hand, he took issue with the traditional German approach to the humanities, represented by Friedrich Schleiermacher and Wilhelm Dilthey, which believed that correctly interpreting a text meant recovering the original intention of the author who wrote it.

In contrast to both of these positions, Gadamer argued that people have a "historically effected consciousness" and that they are embedded in the particular history and culture that shaped them.  Thus interpreting a text involves a "fusion of horizons" where the scholar finds the ways that the text's history articulates with their own background.  TRUTH AND METHOD was not meant to be a programmatic statement about a new "hermeneutic" method of interpreting texts but rather a description of what we always do when we interpret things (even if we do not know it): "My real concern was and is philosophic: not what we do or what we ought to do, but what happens to us over and above our wanting and doing."

In addition to his work in hermeneutics, Gadamer is also well known for a long list of publications on Greek philosophy.  Much of Gadamer's early life centered around studying Greek thinkers, Plato and Aristotle specifically.  In the Italian introduction to Truth and Method, Gadamer said that his work on Greek philosophy was "the best and most original part" of his career.

Gadamer had an enormous impact on twentieth century thought in areas from aesthetics to jurisprudence.  He acquired a respect and reputation in Germany, and elsewhere in Europe, that went far beyond the usual confines of academia.


The following books are in PDF format:

* THE BEGINNING OF KNOWLEDGE (Continuum, 2001).  Translated by Rod Coltman.

* THE BEGINNING OF PHILOSOPHY (Continuum, 1998).  Translated by Rod Coltman.

* A CENTURY OF PHILOSOPHY: A Conversation with Ricardo Dottori (Continuum, 2003).  Translated by Rod Coltman and Sigrid Koepke.

* DIALOGUE AND DIALECTIC: Eight Hermeneutical Studies on Plato (Yale University Press, 1980).  Translated and edited by P. Christopher Smith.

* THE GADAMER READER: A Bouquet of the Later Writings (Northwestern University Press, 2007).  Edited by Richard E. Palmer.

* HEGEL'S DIALECTIC: Five Hermeneutical Studies (Yale University Press, 1976).  Translated by P. Christopher Smith.

* THE IDEA OF THE GOOD IN PLATONIC-ARISTOTELIAN PHILOSOPHY (Yale University Press, 1986).  Translated by P. Christopher Smith.

* PHILOSOPHICAL HERMENEUTICS (University of California Press, 1976).  Translated and edited by David Linge.

* TRUTH AND METHOD, 2nd revised edition (Continuum, 2004).  Translated by Joel Weinsheimer and Donald G. Marshall.