We publish here the letters between Gadamer and Ricoeur, as they are found in the Archives of the two philosophers . Starting from February 1964 and ending on October 2000, the thirty-five letters reproduced here cannot give a complete picture of their much richer correspondence and relations, because it seems that neither Ricoeur, nor Gadamer kept all the letters they received from one another. But altogether, they document their common concerns, their mutual respect, even their intellectual solidarity and finally the (...) particular context that brought them to write to one another, i.e. Ricoeur’s intention to publish a translation of Gadamer’s book, Truth and Method, in a new series he edited for the Seuil Publisher. This publishing and translation project will mark their entire correspondence. (shrink)

In later, retrospective texts where he explained his hermeneutical turn, Paul Ricoeur claimed that this turn was due to the impossibility of knowing oneself directly, through introspection, and the necessity to undertake the detour of interpretation with regard to knowledge of oneself. By going back to the first occurrences of this hermeneutical turn in his work of 1960, The Symbolism of Evil, this paper argues that other motives, which were later forgotten, were also at play and perhaps more instrumental, most (...) notably the intention of salvaging modernity against itself and of curing it of its forgetfulness of the sacred. (shrink)

In this wide-ranging historical introduction to philosophical hermeneutics, Jean Grondin discusses the major figures from Philo to Habermas, analyzes conflicts between various interpretive schools, and provides a persuasive critique of Gadamer's view of hermeneutic history, though in other ways Gadamer's _Truth and Method_ serves as a model for Grondin's approach. Grondin begins with brief overviews of the pre-nineteenth-century thinkers Philo, Origen, Augustine, Luther, Flacius, Dannhauer, Chladenius, Meier, Rambach, Ast, and Schlegel. Next he provides more extensive treatments of such major nineteenth-century (...) figures as Schleiermacher, Böckh, Droysen, and Dilthey. There are full chapters devoted to Heidegger and Gadamer as well as shorter discussions of Betti, Habermas, and Derrida. Because he is the first to pay close attention to pre-Romantic figures, Grondin is able to show that the history of hermeneutics cannot be viewed as a gradual, steady progression in the direction of complete universalization. His book makes it clear that even in the early period, hermeneutic thinkers acknowledged a universal aspect in interpretation—that long before Schleiermacher, hermeneutics was philosophical and not merely practical. In revising and correcting the standard account, Grondin's book is not merely introductory but revisionary, suitable for beginners as well as advanced students in the field. (shrink)

Heidegger's Being and Time: Critical Essays provides a variety of recent studies of Heidegger's most important work. Twelve prominent scholars, representing diverse nationalities, generations, and interpretive approaches deal with general methodological and ontological questions, particular issues in Heidegger's text, and the relation between Being and Time and Heidegger's later thought. All of the essays presented in this volume were never before available in an English-language anthology. Two of the essays have never before been published in any language ; three of (...) the essays have never been published in English before , and two of the essays provide previews of works in progress by major scholars. (shrink)

This book provides an introduction to the historical sources of philosophical hermeneutics as it has come to fruition in the work of Heidegger and Gadamer.

La pregunta por la vida, es un preguntar por y desde el sentido de lo que es y porta la vida. Interesa destacar la pregunta socrática o filosófica por el "sentido de la vida", en términos de existencia y realidad. La existencia del sentido la porta la vida; sin embargo, la dirección, la reflexión, l..

We have many reasons to be grateful to Gianni Vattimo for his ongoing contribution to philosophy and public life. Undoubtedly, his most decisive philosophical impulses have come from the German philosophical tradition, and mostly from the Holy Trinity of Nietzsche, Heidegger and Gadamer, who was his teacher. Yet, he was not German, but a proud Italian, and, for some reason, more able than others to carry this tradition further. The issue I would like to discuss here is whether hermeneutics, and (...) thus philosophy itself, must be seen as a form of nihilism. If nihilism only means a tolerance for the view of others to the extent that they do not violently limit the liberty of others, one can agree with Gianni Vattimo. But if one understands under “nihilism” the notion that there are no truths in the sense of adaequatio, one can challenge this view. Vattimo often faults Gadamer for not acknowledging fully the consequences of his own thought, i.e. the nihilistic consequences of his hermeneutic ontology. Yet one must ask: Why is it that Gadamer failed to proclaim a nihilistic hermeneutics? In other words, why did Gadamer resist the postmodernism of some of his followers? (shrink)

The question of Nietzsche's place in hermeneutics raises many questions: can Nietzsche's thought itself be characterized as "hermeneutical" and to what extent, given that hermeneutics was only developed as such after him? Can and should hermeneutics, which until recently did not take his thought much into account, incorporate Nietzsche's thought as a whole? Whereas a mutual fecundation will always be fruitful, this paper argues that one should resist a simple integration of Nietzsche into hermeneutics in light of their different understandings (...) of truth, interpretation and nihilism. It thus becomes possible to also resist the postmodern and nihilistic understanding of hermeneutics. Aware of their differences, hermeneutics and Nietzsche will perhaps have more to say to one another. (shrink)

III. PROLÉGOMÈNES A L'INTELLIGENCE DU TOURNANT Tout le monde attend toujours la deuxième partie de Sein und Zeit. C'est qu'ils ne connaissent pas le livre sur Kant. Martin Heidegger 1 Une interprétation philosophique du tournant ...

Se recogen en este texto, transcrito por Javier Martínez Contreras, redactor de todos los textos presentados oralmente en el Coloquio sobre Hermenéutica y sentido, coordinado por Andrés Ortiz-Osés, la destacada participación de Zabala, Grondin y Ortiz-Osés, en su dispuatio acerca de sus tesis hermen..

In a world allegedly lacking a moral compass, tolerance has become the major virtue of our time. All profess to be tolerant, but how tolerant are we in reality? As a case in point, how tolerant are philosophers themselves? A short overview of philosophy seems to suggest that they are less tolerant than one might imagine. A few reasons for this are provided : on the one hand, their commitment to issues of truth, logic and argument makes them perhaps intolerant (...) of what they view as blatantly absurd or flawed views; on the other hand, the often very ideological nature of philosophy itself does its part to make philosophers less open to differing or opposite points of view. (shrink)

Based on some interpretations about the Critique of Pure Reason, the author holds a real answer to the question about the possibility of Metaphysics remains in the uncertainty there. Without any proper Conclusion of the work, this question is displaced to the background and it is, in certain way, superseded by the question about God's existence and a future life. In II, The Transcendental Doctrine of Method, Kant points towards the Highest Good as a determining ground of the ultimate end (...) of pure reason. (shrink)

La afirmación de Gadamer de que lo único que no hay que olvidar es que el hombre no puede vivir sin esperanza suscita perplejidad. Sin embargo, la esperanza es la condición fundamental de nuestra capacidad de comprender por su carácter referencial. La esperanza se nutre de una verdad no objetivable que amplía horizontes.

D’abord formé par Nicolai Hartman et Rudolf Bultmann, Gerhard Krüger fut l’un des élèves les plus doués de Heidegger. Il a suivi d’un œil critique et avisé les soubresauts de sa pensée. S’il fut séduit par la résurrection de la question de l’être et celle de la métaphysique chez Heidegger, comme par sa critique du sujet moderne, c’est une tout autre conception de l’être, de la métaphysique et de l’existence humaine qu’il lui opposait. Il le fit notamment dans ses livres (...) remarquables sur Kant et sur Platon que l’on peut lire comme des contestations rigoureuses de la conception heideggérienne de l’histoire de la métaphysique, mais aussi de sa vision de la philosophie.First influenced by Nicolai Hartmann and Rudolf Bultmann, Gerhard Krüger was one of Heidegger’s most gifted students and one who followed the unfolding of his thought with utmost critical acumen. He was impressed by Heidegger’s resurrection of the question of Being and of metaphysics, and by his destruction of the modern subject, but it is a wholly different idea of Being, metaphysics and human existence that he opposed to Heidegger. He did so in landmark studies on Kant and Plato which can be read as cogent counter-proposals to Heidegger’s view of the history of metaphysics and his understanding of philosophy. (shrink)

Cet article se penche sur les conséquences éthiques et ontologiques de la conception heideggérienne de la finitude. Il tâchera de montrer dans quelle mesure l'ontologie de Heidegger peut être lue comme une reprise du projet kantien d'une critique de la raison pure. La philosophie de la Kehre sera présentée sous l'angle d'une radicalisation de la finitude, l'insistance sur l'être fini étant au centre du débat de Heidegger avec la métaphysique et son accomplissement technique. La question du divin et le mot (...) « seul un dieu peut encore nous sauver » seront situés dans la perspective d'une éthique de la finitude. This article examines the ethical and ontological consequences of Heidegger's conception of finitude. It considers to what extent Heidegger's ontology can be seen as an attempted renewal of the Kantian project of a critique of pure reason. The philosophy of the Kehre will he presented as a radicalization of finitude, with the stress on finite being as central to Heidegger's debate with metaphysics and its technical realization. The question of divinity as well as the formula « only a god can still save us » will be seen in the perspective of an ethics of finitude. (shrink)

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)