Philosophical Hermeneutics of Hans-Georg Gadamer

Abstract

Gadamer's hermeneutics builds upon predecessors in the field of hermeneutics such as Spinoza, Chladenius, G.F. Meier, Schleiermacher, Wilhelm Dilthey, and Martin Heidegger. Known as philosophical dialogical hermeneutics (philosophical hermeneutics kommunikation), it extends to understanding and interpreting everything that is comprehensible and intelligible. While it is not a mere repetition of prior hermeneutics, it is an extension and broadening of their foundations, and thus it carries a phenomenological character.

Since its inception, Gadamer's hermeneutics has focused on challenging the notion of the scientific method, which forms the foundation of natural and empirical sciences, and surpassing their discourse on truth. Truth in the human sciences is not the product of a method, or rather, it is not exclusive to methodological interaction with the world; instead, it results from direct experience or openness to the world through understanding.

Gadamer’s hermeneutics is a project aimed at liberating and rescuing meaning in Western thought. Meaning cannot be reached unless the human sciences develop their own methodologies, necessarily different from those of the natural sciences. Gadamer defined hermeneutics as an attempt to understand what human sciences truly are by transcending their methodological self-awareness and their relation to the totality of our experience of the world. Unlike traditional linguistic or theological hermeneutics that treat understanding as a technical art, Gadamer argues that such formal techniques falsely claim superiority over the truth conveyed by tradition.

Gadamer’s hermeneutical tools are generally aimed at the necessity of opening the text to existence (historical, social, epistemic), reading it within its traditional context, and then achieving a fusion of horizons through an ongoing process that uses dialogue as an effective tool for understanding.

Keywords: Hermeneutics, Schleiermacher, Dilthey, Gadamer, Fusion of Horizons, Hermeneutic Circle, Logic of Prejudices, Question and Answer.

DOI: 10.7176/JPCR/60-04

Publication date: April 28^th 2026