Abstract

A foundation stone of Hans Georg Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics is the notion of the sensus communis. The philosophical significance of a “sensus communis” (common sense) begins with Aristotle, who offered scattered reflections. The topic was taken up in earnest in Enlightenment thought and in German idealism, but it became more of an individual faculty, lacking the deep sense of community and tradition found in earlier formulations. In this paper, the author demonstrates Gadamer’s debt to Pietist thought, examining his appropriation and use of the theology of Friedrich Christoph Oetinger (1702–1782), a leading figure in Swabian Pietism, whose ideas had a significant impact in theological circles and broader cultural life. Gadamer’s critique of the Enlightenment’s ‘prejudice against prejudice,’ owes a debt to the Pietist conception of the sensus communis and his practical philosophy to Pietism’s emphasis on ‘application’ as a fundamental aspect of a hermeneutical triad.

Highlights

  • Gadamer fully realizes that Oetinger has theological and apologetic motivations, but he states that “[Oetinger’s] writing on the sensus communis is without doubt philosophically significant” [20] (p. 306)

  • That Oetinger recognized we arrive at knowledge and understanding not through pure rational reflection on sense impressions but always on the basis of previous understanding makes him for Gadamer a philosophically significant thinker

  • The first two of these dimensions were a central concern within Romantic hermeneutics, in the recognition of the unity of understanding and interpretation, such as we find in the simple example of translation: We do not understand, translate; the two proceed together

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Summary

Introduction

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. The philosophical hermeneutics developed by Hans-Georg Gadamer is profoundly opposed to a narrow understanding of the nature and meaning of human experience resulting from the effort to unilaterally apply the methods and assumptions of modern science to human beings and social-cultural life. One of Gadamer’s minor (though important) conversation partners was the tradition of German Pietist thought, especially the work of Friedrich Christoph Oetinger (1702–1782). Gadamer was drawn to Oetinger’s discussion of the sensus communis, a central notion in religious and philosophical thought since the time of Aristotle. Gadamer’s understanding of the sensus communis has received attention, but only in relation to Kant and Vico [1,2,3]. In considering Gadamer’s assimilation of Oetinger I (1) exemplify the very working of the sensus communis, (2) locate a source of Gadamer’s critique of the ‘prejudice of against prejudice’ and (3) reveal aspects of Gadamer’s hermeneutical method

Scientific Method and Mechanism
Sensus Communis in Truth and Method
Oetinger on the Sensus Communis
Gadamer’s Appropriation of Oetinger
Application
Conclusions

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