Hans-Georg Gadamer

Throughout his long career, Gadamer wrote and taught widely on the philosophy of the ancient world and on the connection between thinking and history. This volume exposes us to Gadamer’s late views on ancient philosophy, written between 1982 and 1990, his rehabilitation of certain eighteenth- and nineteenth-century thinkers (Oetinger, Herder and Schleiermacher) and his life-long contribution to our understanding of the significance of Hegel (from 1939 to 1990). They thus show us the transformation of his thinking on the history of philosophy over the different periods of his academic career. Ancient Sources, Modern Appropriations is a remarkable demonstration and illustration of how the study of the history of philosophy contributes to the task of doing philosophy by keeping a tradition alive and offering a future to the thinkers of the past. This third volume also includes a substantial critical introduction, a critical apparatus of notes, and several glossaries.

Throughout his long career, Gadamer wrote and taught widely on the philosophy of the ancient world and on the connection between thinking and history. This volume exposes us to Gadamer’s late views on ancient philosophy, written between 1982 and 1990, his rehabilitation of certain eighteenth- and nineteenth-century thinkers (Oetinger, Herder and Schleiermacher) and his life-long contribution to our understanding of the significance of Hegel (from 1939 to 1990). They thus show us the transformation of his thinking on the history of philosophy over the different periods of his academic career. Ancient Sources, Modern Appropriations is a remarkable demonstration and illustration of how the study of the history of philosophy contributes to the task of doing philosophy by keeping a tradition alive and offering a future to the thinkers of the past. This third volume also includes a substantial critical introduction, a critical apparatus of notes, and several glossaries.

Ethics, Aesthetics and the Historical Dimension of Language collects together Gadamer's most important untranslated writings on ethics, aesthetics and language. With a substantial introduction by the editors exploring Gadamer's ethical project and providing an overview of his aesthetic work, this book collects Gadamer's writings on ancient ethics, including the moral philosophy of Aristotle, and on practical philosophy (first section). In the second section, Gadamer's writings on art are collected, including his examination of poetry, opera and painting among other art forms. The third section comprises Gadamer’s essays on language in its historical dimension. This important collection is a useful resource for scholars in philosophy, studying hermeneutics, continental, 20th-century and German philosophy.

»När jag här talar om dialog måste jag medge att jag använder ett ord som av otaliga goda eller dåliga skäl, ch jag ska inte trötta er med att återge dem, under lång tid kommer att förbli främmande för min vokabulär, likt ett främmande språk som skulle kräva omsorgsfulla översättningar med många förbehåll. Och då jag preciserar vad som avses med »inre dialog« gläder jag mig åt att redan ha låtit Gadamer tala i mig.« Den oändliga dialogen innehåller två texter om Paul Celan: Jacques Derridas »Vädurar. Mellan två oändligheter, dikten« och Hans-Georg Gadamers text om Celans diktsvit »Andningskristall«. Båda är översatta av Sven-Olov Wallenstein, som också skrivit ett efterord.

Ethics, Aesthetics and the Historical Dimension of Language collects together Gadamer's most important untranslated writings on ethics, aesthetics and language. With a substantial introduction by the editors exploring Gadamer's ethical project and providing an overview of his aesthetic work, this book collects Gadamer's writings on ancient ethics, including the moral philosophy of Aristotle, and on practical philosophy (first section). In the second section, Gadamer's writings on art are collected, including his examination of poetry, opera and painting among other art forms. The third section comprises Gadamer’s essays on language in its historical dimension. This important collection is a useful resource for scholars in philosophy, studying hermeneutics, continental, 20th-century and German philosophy.

... hermeneutiken blir i Gadamers händer till en allmän kulturfilosofi och en reflexion över människans villkor. Avsnitt av detta arbete har tidigare funnits utgivna på svenska, men nu har litteraturvetaren Arne Melberg översatt ett fylligare urval och försett det med en inledning om Gadamer och hans tänkande. Melbergs översättning är omsorgsfullt gjord och hans urval är välavvägt. Svante Nordin, SvD I "Sanning och metod", som efter publiceringen 1960 snabbt blev till en modern filosofisk klassiker, samlade Hans-Georg Gadamer allt han tänkt – och allt det han skrivit därefter verkar­ kretsa kring samma problematik. "Sanning och metod" har med rätta kallats hans huvudverk. Kärnan i Gadamers filosofi är strävan att förstå människan som »historiskt förstående». Han är inte primärt intresserad av att ge råd i metod­frågor för humanvetenskaperna utan att klargöra de villkor som möjliggör den mänskliga för­ståelsen. Denna volym består av ett urval texter ur Sanning­ och Metod. För urval, inledning och översättning svarar Arne Melberg. Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900–2002) var professor i filosofi vid universitetet i Heidelberg.

Hermeneutics between History and Philosophy collects together Gadamer's remaining important untranslated writings on the problem of history and the major philosophical traditions of the 20th century from the standpoint of hermeneutics. In these writings, Gadamer examines important thinkers such as Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre, Bourdieu and Habermas and their ongoing legacies. This volume includes a preface by the editors and translators, presenting the structure of the volume, and a substantial introduction situating Gadamer's particular project and examining the place of hermeneutics in relation to the disciplines of history and philosophy in the 20th century. The translation is followed by a glossary of German terms and Greek and Latin expressions, as well as a bibliography of all the works cited and alluded to by Gadamer. Together, the essays and critical apparatus provide an overarching account of Gadamer’s understanding of human life as embedded within history.

In The Beginning of Philosophy Gadamer explores the layers of interpretation and misinterpretation that have built up over 2500 years of Presocratic scholarship. Using Plato and Aristotle as his starting point his analysis moves effortlessly from Simplicius and Diogenes Laertius to the 19th-century German historicists right through to Hegel, Nietzsche and Heidegger. Gadamer shows us how some of the earliest philosophical concepts such as truth, equality, nature, spirit and being came to be and how our understanding of them today is deeply indebted to Presocratic thinkers. The book is based on a series of lectures delivered by Gadamer in 1967 which were then translated into English and edited by Gadamer for this collection. This is a major philosophical-historical work from one of the 20th century’s greatest thinkers.

The Beginning of Knowledge brings together almost all of Gadamer’s essays on the Presocratics. In each of the essays Gadamer discusses the origins of knowledge in the western philosophical tradition. Beginning with a hermeneutical and philological investigation of the Heraclitus fragments he moves on to a discussion of the Greek Atomists and the Presocratic cosmologists. In the final two essays he elaborates on the profound debt that modern science owes to the Greeks and shows how their works have shaped modern day physics, mathematics and medicine. The philosophers discussed include Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Anaximander, Heraclitus and Parmenides. This is a major work from one of the 20th century’s greatest thinkers.

In February 1988, philosophers Jacques Derrida, Hans-Georg Gadamer, and Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe came together in Heidelberg before a large audience to discuss the philosophical and political implications of Martin Heidegger's thought. This event took place in the very amphitheater in which, more than fifty years earlier, Heidegger, as rector of the University of Freiburg and a member of the Nazi Party, had given a speech entitled "The University in the New Reich." Heidegger's involvement in Nazism has always been, and will remain, an indelible scandal, but what is its real relation to his work and thought? And what are the responsibilities of those who read this work, who analyze and elaborate this thought? Conversely, what is at stake in the wholesale dismissal of this important but compromised twentieth-century philosopher? In 1988, in the wake of the recent publication of Victor Farias's Heidegger and Nazism, and of the heated debates that ensued, these questions had become more pressing than ever. The reflections presented by three of the most prominent of Heidegger's readers, improvised in French and transcribed here, were an attempt to approach these questions before a broad public, but with a depth of knowledge and a complex sense of the questions at issue that have been often lacking in the press. Ranging over two days and including exchanges with one another and with the audience, the discussions pursued by these major thinkers remain highly relevant today, especially following the publication of Heidegger's already notorious "Black Notebooks," which have added another chapter to the ongoing debates over this contested figure. The present volume recalls a highly charged moment in this history, while also drawing the debate toward its most essential questions.

In February 1988, philosophers Jacques Derrida, Hans-Georg Gadamer, and Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe came together in Heidelberg before a large audience to discuss the philosophical and political implications of Martin Heidegger's thought. This event took place in the very amphitheater in which, more than fifty years earlier, Heidegger, as rector of the University of Freiburg and a member of the Nazi Party, had given a speech entitled "The University in the New Reich." Heidegger's involvement in Nazism has always been, and will remain, an indelible scandal, but what is its real relation to his work and thought? And what are the responsibilities of those who read this work, who analyze and elaborate this thought? Conversely, what is at stake in the wholesale dismissal of this important but compromised twentieth-century philosopher? In 1988, in the wake of the recent publication of Victor Farias's Heidegger and Nazism, and of the heated debates that ensued, these questions had become more pressing than ever. The reflections presented by three of the most prominent of Heidegger's readers, improvised in French and transcribed here, were an attempt to approach these questions before a broad public, but with a depth of knowledge and a complex sense of the questions at issue that have been often lacking in the press. Ranging over two days and including exchanges with one another and with the audience, the discussions pursued by these major thinkers remain highly relevant today, especially following the publication of Heidegger's already notorious "Black Notebooks," which have added another chapter to the ongoing debates over this contested figure. The present volume recalls a highly charged moment in this history, while also drawing the debate toward its most essential questions.

Hur förhåller sig människan till konst? Gadamer undersöker detta och frågan om konstens väsen, som han fördjupar med hjälp av begreppen spel, symbol och fest. Man kanske skulle kunna tro att Gadamer, i egenskap av filosof, har ett abstrakt och teoretiserande sätt att förhålla sig till konst. Faktum är att det är precis tvärt om Han strävar efter att vara helt konkret och verklighetsnära. Det gör

Truth and Method is a landmark work of 20th century thought which established Hans Georg-Gadamer as one of the most important philosophical voices of the 20th Century. In this book, Gadamer established the field of ‘philosophical hermeneutics': exploring the nature of knowledge, the book rejected traditional quasi-scientific approaches to establishing cultural meaning that were prevalent after the war. In arguing the ‘truth' and ‘method' acted in opposition to each other, Gadamer examined the ways in which historical and cultural circumstance fundamentally influenced human understanding. It was an approach that would become hugely influential in the humanities and social sciences and remains so to this day in the work of Jurgen Habermas and many others.

Sannhet og metode (1960) er hovedverket innenfor den moderne filosofiske hermeneutikken. Boken danner et teoretisk grunnlag for å forstå fortolkning, og er dermed en selvsagt del av human- og samfunnsvitenskapenes kanon. Undersøkelsene tar utgangspunkt i den tradisjonelle hermeneutikken eller fortolkningslæren, en disiplin som sprang ut av tekststudier innen teologi og jus. Kombinert med innsikter hentet fra Hegels dialektikk og Heideggers fenomenologi utarbeider Gadamer dette til en filosofisk hermeneutikk, i utgangspunktet en lære om hvordan forståelsen fungerer. Han viser hvordan enhver som forsøker å forstå noe, er bestemt av sin tid og sin kultur, som gjør oss til bærere av bestemte fordommer. Disse fordommene står ikke i veien for forståelse - snarere er det nettopp ved hjelp av fordommer at vi er i stand til å åpne opp, og åpne oss opp for, det vi ønsker å forstå. Sannhet og metode er uomgjengelig for den som er interessert i human- og samfunnsvitenskapenes metodiske grunnlag, og for den som søker innsikt i forståelsens natur.

This volume presents six lively conversations with Hans-Georg Gadamer (born 1900), one of the twentieth century’s master philosophers. Looking back over his life and thought, Gadamer takes up key issues in his philosophy, addresses points of controversy, and replies to his critics, including those who accuse him of having been in complicity with the Nazis. A genial and direct conversationalist, Gadamer is here captured at his best and most accessible. The interviews took place between 1989 and 1996, and all but one appear in English for the first time in this volume. The first three conversations, conducted by Heidelberg philosopher Carsten Dutt, deal with hermeneutics, aesthetics, and practical philosophy and the question of ethics. In a fourth conversation, with University of Heidelberg classics professor Glenn W. Most, Gadamer argues for the vital importance of the Greeks for our contemporary thinking. In the next, the philosopher reaffirms his connection with phenomenology and clarifies his relation to Husserl and Heidegger in a conversation with London philosopher Alfons Grieder. In the final interview, with German Nazi expert Dörte von Westernhagen, Gadamer describes his life as a struggling young professor in Germany in the 1930s and refutes accusations of his complicity with the Nazis. These conversations are a lucid introduction for readers new to the philosopher’s thought, and for experts they present an invaluable commentary on Gadamer’s most important themes.

In the years shortly before and after the publication of his classic Truth and Method (1960), the eminent German philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer returned often to questions surrounding religion and ethics. In this selection of writings from Gesammelte Werke that are here translated into English for the first time, Gadamer probes deeply into the hermeneutic significance of these subjects. Gadamer raises issues of importance to ethicists and theologians as well as students of language and literature. In such outstanding essays as "Kant and the Question of God," "Thinking as Redemption: Plotinus between Plato and Augustine," and "Friendship and Self-Knowledge: Reflections on the Role of Friendship in Greek Ethics," Gadamer discusses the nature of moral behavior, ethics as a form of knowing, and the hermeneutic task of mediating ethos and philosophical ethics with one another.