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Camille E. AtkinsonCorresponding author

Is Gadamer's Hermeneutics Inherently Conservative?

Article
14/2 - Fall 2009, pages 285-306
Date of online publication: 15 novembre 2009
Date of publication: 01 novembre 2009

Abstract

According to two critics, Georgia Warnke and John Caputo, Gadamer's hermeneutics is inherently “conservative” insofar as he appeals to tradition as a constituent in understanding. They insist that he simply preserves the ideals, norms and values of the Western metaphysical tradition without critically examining them. I do not agree and will argue that views like this depend upon several false assumptions—for example, that Gadamer reifies the text as a “thing-in-itself” (Sache selbst) and remains trapped in subjectivism. I will begin by examining some of the ways in which these charges might be warranted before proceeding to defend him.

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Cite this article

Atkinson, Camille E. “Is Gadamer's Hermeneutics Inherently Conservative?” Forum Philosophicum 14, no. 2 (2009): 285–306. doi:10.35765/forphil.2009.1402.22.

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