A Hermeneutics for the Human Barnyard
The Nascent Political Radicality of Gadamer’s Theory of Experience
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8409334 |
|---|---|
| Authors | John Arthos (Indiana University Bloomington, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 56 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 70-85 |
| Publication date | 2025-01-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0007-1773 • E-ISSN: 2332-0486 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/00071773.2024.2446394 |
| OpenAlex | W4406051454 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 8 |
Gadamer offered a paradigm of hermeneutic experience and understanding as a humanist alternative to the scientific rationality that dominates Western modernity. He derived his perspective in great part from the philosophy of his mentor, Martin Heidegger, but he was grounded less in ontology than in his own humanistic training in classical philosophy, art, and literature. It was only somewhat late (in his debates with Habermas) that he grappled with the political relevance of his theory, but even in that context, he continued to insist on its universal applicability. This paper takes the position that Gadamer’s account of hermeneutic understanding provides an inadequate approach to the political dimensions of modernity, but that there is a radical kernel in his theory of experience that is relevant to political engagement. I suggest a way to reconfigure his model of hermeneutic experience that highlights this radical feature as the basis for viable political hermeneutics
Art · Epistemology · Hermeneutics · Literature · Political science · Politics · Law · Narrative Theory and Analysis · Philosophy · Pragmatism in Philosophy and Education · Rhetoric and Communication Studies
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |