Gadamer's Philosophy Research Articles

Hans-Georg Gadamer's “On the idea of a system in philosophy” (1924)

ABSTRACT This article is the first English translation of Gadamer's early essay “On the Idea of a System in Philosophy” (“Zur Systemidee in der Philosophie”) from 1924. Influenced by Marburg Neo-Kantianism and Heidegger's hermeneutic phenomenology, Gadamer is concerned with the problems that arise with the idea of systematicity in philosophy. In particular, he focuses on conceiving of an idea of a system that does justice to the historical variability of philosophical thoughts. He shows that systematicity and history are, in fact, not in tension but deeply intertwined because of the foundation philosophy has in factical and historical human life. Gadamer, therefore, already anticipates some of the most characteristic ideas of his later magnum opus Truth and Method. The translator's Introduction contextualises this essay in both its relation to Marburg Neo-Kantians and Heidegger's thought, highlights the most significant continuities to Gadamer's mature philosophy, and provides an overview of the essay's main arguments.

Misunderstanding and Meaning Change

AbstractToday, the tone of discussion in the public sphere is dominated by misunderstanding. A common assumption is that misunderstanding comes from a failure of understanding. This article argues that misunderstanding is in fact a type of meaning change. To fully understand the contrast between misunderstanding as a failure of understanding and misunderstanding as a type of meaning change, the article uses Ludwig Wittgenstein and Hans-Georg Gadamer as a starting point to tease out an unthought assumption. Both thinkers challenge traditional preconceptions of how language shapes understanding and they make prominent use of the concept of misunderstanding to do so. Yet both rely on a de facto model of misunderstanding as a failure of understanding. To consider an alternative notion of misunderstanding, the article looks at examples from thinkers influenced by Wittgenstein's and Gadamer's philosophy. Finally, the article concludes by positing a new definition of misunderstanding.

The Constitutive Power of Public Debate

Abstract Public debates structure election cycles, feature in news media, and are privileged as a form of academic exchange. Yet, public debate is poorly understood from the perspective of political theory. While theorists often talk about “public debate,” they usually mean diffuse discussion on a topic in the public sphere. This article considers how literal public debates—multisided, publicly accessible and publicly oriented performances of reason-giving—may be normatively distinct from other forms of rhetoric. Drawing on the “constructivist turn” in the scholarship on representation and the philosophy of Gadamer, I offer a hermeneutical approach for assessing public debates. I argue that public debates do not merely provide a platform for opinions to be broadcast, they also purport to provide a representative spectrum of opinions. In so doing, they help to construct the borders of the public sphere itself. I conclude by considering the significance of protest to public debate.

Who is supporting the parents during their child's cancer treatment? A qualitative study through the lens of compassion

PurposeParents of children/adolescents with cancer are placed in a state of severe suffering due to serious concerns, fears, and radical daily life changes. Human support is an important source of support for successful coping. This study explored fundamental aspects of parents' daily, social, and personal life during their child's treatment to deepen our understanding of ‘who’ plays a significant role in supporting parents, and how, and to what extent this support is provided. MethodsThis qualitative study was undertaken in a compassion paradigm, designed and guided by Heidegger's and Gadamer's philosophy and compassionate methods. Data were generated through ethnographic observations (144 h), focus group interviews (n = 2), and individual/couple interviews (n = 16) at two Danish hospitals. Inductive content analysis was used to analyse data. ResultsOverall, support from peers, health professionals, and social networks constituted significant sources of support. Especially peers and health professionals had a continuous support role, which was fundamental for establishing interpersonal closeness and relieving suffering. Sharing responsibilities between parents and among social networks seemed to ease the emotional and practical burden. However, to ensure effectiveness, social networks must be available, outreach, and responsive to needs. Moreover, parents disclosed little self-awareness and resources and options for self-care due to a combination of lack of awareness, time, and space in the hospitals. ConclusionSafeguarding interpersonal and interparental understanding and closeness in parental care is essential. One way is building resilience and a broader human-to-human-based safety net around the family, including social networks and professional psychosocial support, advantageously using compassion.

Subjectivity and Dialectic: Hegel in Dialogue with Gadamer

Abstract In this article, I defend the contemporary significance of Hegel's thought on subjectivity and dialectic by involving Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Hans-Georg Gadamer in a dialogue, and then, by clarifying the characteristics of spirit and concept. Hegel's theory of subjectivity and his thought on dialectic face many criticisms. One such critic is Gadamer; however, Gadamer's philosophy is, in fact, quite close to Hegel's. I take the Hegel-Gadamer relationship as one illustration of Hegel's relevance and influence. I then further demonstrate Hegel's contemporary importance by analyzing the characteristics of spirit and concept. Finally, I propose that Hegel's absolute spirit and concept remain significant.

Non-Participatory Observation Of Integrated Management Of Childhood Illness Practices At Selected Basic Health Units Of District Abbottabad, Kp, Pakistan: A Qualitative Hermeneutic Study.

It was in 1995 when a strategy was devised to reduce under-five mortality in countries with a prevalence of child mortality above 40/1000 live births. This strategy is called "Integrated Management of Childhood Illness" (IMCI). Improvement in the skills of healthcare workers (HCWs) depends on the IMCI training received by them. To make IMCI training more effective and scale up, a global technical consultation committee in Geneva recommended implementing an innovative training approach in 2014: the distance learning IMCI (dIMCI). This study was conducted to observe qualitatively the practices of IMCI-trained HCWs at their respective workplaces. This qualitative hermeneutic study was conducted through non-probability criterion sampling in the district Abbottabad of Pakistan on all 26 basic health units trained in IMCI (either standard or distance learning) from December 9, 2019, to March 9, 2020. Data collection was done by qualitatively observing consultations and interactions of caretakers of under-five children at basic health units. Inductive thematic analysis was used. This qualitative exploration was underpinned by Hans Georg Gadamer's philosophy of hermeneutics. Four themes emerged from the observation notes. These themes are gratification after consultation, altercation for medication, non-observance of protocol, and methodical consultation. Improvement in the skills of HCWs in the form of IMCI training, either through distance learning or the common eleven-day standard method, can improve caretakers' satisfaction. However, awareness at the community level is needed for better compliance.

A Gadamerian approach to nursing: Merging philosophy with practice.

Philosophy is commonly criticized for being too abstract and detached from practical spheres. Upon chronicling how philosophy has gained this reputation, the authors explore the philosophical fields of phenomenology and hermeneutics that have explicitly attempted to merge philosophy with everyday life contexts. In recent decades, phenomenology and hermeneutics have been applied to healthcare. In the realm of nursing, Patricia Benner's nursing theory is especially informed by phenomenology, which is briefly explored through her relationship with one of her mentors, the philosopher Hubert Dreyfus. The authors then turn their attention to Hans-Georg Gadamer's philosophy in an attempt to mine concepts relevant to the practice of nursing. Gadamer juxtaposed the human sciences from the natural sciences and thought that both needed different approaches: whereas natural sciences are guided by episteme, that is, universal knowledge, human sciences are guided by phronesis, that is, practical wisdom. Gadamer's philosophy is especially helpful in understanding how to cultivate phronesis in nursing wherein a nurse relies upon one's clinical experience to masterfully navigate each unique patient relationship. Nurses must serve as authorities in the realm of healthcare but also be open to the authority of their patients, who ultimately choose their course of treatment in our contemporary era of patient autonomy. Gadamer's philosophy can help us understand why phronesis requires not only practice but also reflection on that practice to be appropriately cultivated. The authors apply this to the realm of nursing in showing how both practice-clinically and via simulation-and reflection-through journaling or dialogue-are necessary for phronesis to emerge.

Play as Inter-Play: A Dialogue between Gadamer and Schiller

Abstract This paper addresses the concept of play concerning human formation, especially as manifested in the philosophies of Gadamer and Schiller. Gadamer depicted understanding as an organic motion that unfolds through seeing differences and characterized play as a flexible back-and-forth movement or interplay between possibilities and transformations. Schiller structured play as the playful impulse similarly as an interactive moving force that connects the two seemingly oppositional impulses of reason and sensation and lets the two affect the other dialogically. Both Gadamer and Schiller suggest that play, as in essence an inter-play, orients us into seeing more possibilities of making a refreshing sense of our intellectual and perceptual abilities and thereby transfiguring our living being into richer and fuller meaningfulness.

The philosophy of Hans-Georg Gadamer: An exemplar of the complicated relationship between philosophy and nursing practice.

Philosophy has a complicated relationship with nursing practice. Selected concepts from Hans-Georg Gadamer's Truth and Method specifically prejudice, conversation, and language are articulated. An exemplar involving nursing practice at an outpatient clinic for women seeking pre- and postbreast cancer care is offered to explicate these concepts. We considered the fit of Gadamer's philosophy, particularly the concept of conversation, within a public health nursing practice context in home and community settings of the client/family and offered tentative conclusions. To extend the discussion of the relationship between philosophy and nursing practice, we posed questions developed to provide deeper insight into this complicated relationship.

Aesthetics in Nursing Practice for Cancer Patients as Experienced by Nurses in Nepal: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study.

Aesthetics in nursing practice address creating beautiful, meaningful, desirable, and satisfying experiences for both the nurse and the patient. However, little is known about aesthetics in nursing practice. The aim of this study was to describe the lived experiences of nurses who provide aesthetically pleasant care in nursing practice for cancer patients. The hermeneutic phenomenological approach grounded on Gadamer's philosophy was used in this study. Sixteen Nepalese nurses who met the inclusion criteria were the participants. The data collection consisted of 2 methods of drawing graphic illustrations to reflect aesthetic nursing practices and in-depth interviews to explain them. The researchers analyzed and interpreted art-based graphic illustrations and interview transcriptions of 16 Nepalese nurses using van Manen's approach. The 5 thematic categories covering these meanings comprised (1) knowing persons as whole, (2) creating a pleasant healing environment, (3) creative use of palliative care resources, (4) nurturing hope, and (5) rewarding the self. This study provides the understanding of the nurses' thoughts and actions of aesthetics in their nursing practice. The inductive knowledge from the experiences of the nurses informs the nursing discipline and profession to promote aesthetics in nursing. These findings can be used to promote aesthetics in nursing practice to improve patients' well-being holistically and increase nurses' satisfaction from caring.

Defending the “Improvisation as Conversation” Model of Improvised Musical Performance

ABSTRACT It was in the 1990s that the metaphor commonly employed to explain and understand improvisation in jazz, “improvisation as conversation” came into prominence. In 2015 however, Wilson and MacDonald, from the perspective of music psychology, argued that this widespread model for understanding improvisation via language metaphors was inadequate to explain improvisation in music, broadly construed. While I agree with Wilson and MacDonald that there are flaws in the “improvisation as conversation” model, I also believe this model offers benefits and insights worth preserving. Thus, rather do away with the model, in this paper I defend a conversational understanding of improvisation by rethinking the idea of language and conversation that underpins the model. Instead of deploying a “rule-based” understanding of language, in this article I explore how understanding language as “conversation,” such as explicated in the philosophies of Gadamer and Davidson, might effectively address some of the challenges presented by Wilson and MacDonald.

논리적 전회로서 가다머와 비트겐슈타인의 언어철학

논리적 전회로서 가다머와 비트겐슈타인의 언어철학

Hans-Georg Dadamer and the Anamnetic Character of Truth

Hans-Georg Dadamer and the Anamnetic Character of Truth

A critical analysis of articles using a Gadamerian based research method.

It is over 20years since Michael Crotty's groundbreaking critique of phenomenological research in nursing. However, rather than entering into the acrimonious discussions that followed, we developed a research method that we believed translated Gadamer's philosophy into the world of empirical research. Fundamental to that work was our differentiation of hermeneutics from phenomenology. The aim of the present paper was to provide a critical analysis of the citations from publication in 2003 until the end of 2017. We identified 402 citations of which 362 were included. One hundred and sixty-three articles mentioned the article in passing, usually in a list of authors who had discussed hermeneutics. Sixteen citations misrepresented the method mainly claiming that we discussed a method for hermeneutic phenomenology (or phenomenological hermeneutics). Of the 117 citations that partially used the method, the main focus was the four steps of data analysis. Sixty studies used our method in totality although they derive from varying philosophical standpoints. Disappointingly, there has been little critique of our Gadamerian research method. For health disciplines to truly make progress in the academic stage, it is vital that we engage in with critique, some of which will come through open and honest reflexive engagement with our topics.

Conversación, diálogo y lenguaje en el pensamiento de Hans-Georg Gadamer

To cope with the intersubjective and communicative deficiencies of Heidegger's Analytics of Existence, Hans-Georg Gadamer developed a theory of language whose nature is at one time phenomenological and ontological. Inspired by Plato's dialectics and Aristotle's ethical and rhetorical works, Gadamer sees human linguistic capabilities as the defining trait of all that is human. Language lives in conversation, dialogically structuring all social and cultural relations. Language is the ambit in which human beings and their historical world take place. In Gadamer's thought, logos replaces being as the ontological support. In such a way, Gadamer's hermeneutical philosophy seeks to fill the void opened by the 20th Century deconstruction of Metaphysics.

Discovering the ethos of serving in nursing leadership from the first half of the 20th century in three Nordic countries - an idea-historical research approach.

The history of ideas may contribute to an awareness and an opening up of deep-seated currents of thought that have shaped the inner core of the caring culture and an ethical value base - the ethos of serving in nursing leadership. This article studies how serving as an ethos is represented, which becomes visible and evident in Sophie Mannerheim's, Bertha Wellin's and Bergljot Larsson's nursing leadership. This article also seeks to describe the main features of the idea-historical research approach the way in which it is represented within the caring science-tradition. An idea-historical methodological approach informed by Gadamer's philosophy was used for the hermeneutical interpretation within a caring science perspective. Primary and secondary historical sources were explored in the light of nursing praxis and serving. Three general idea patterns were discovered: the innermost room of the heart as the idea of serving, the action of the hand as acts of love and a cultivation of the head towards nursing leadership. These ideas open for a new vision that can bring out new patterns for action in the present and in the nursing leadership of the future.

Aproximación a la concepción onto-simbólica del arte en la hermenéutica filosófica de Gadamer

Este trabajo sostiene que el concepto de símbolo en la filosofía de Gadamer permite construir una interpretación ontológica de la obra artística y, como categoría estética, posibilita que el intérprete tenga un punto de apoyo para dar sentido unitario a este acontecimiento. Sin embargo, aquello que podemos decir sobre el arte no está sujeto a una lectura unilateral ni cerrada; como fenómeno histórico de la vida humana y por su misma naturaleza, el arte requiere de una interpretación amplia y plural, una interpretación que dé una unidad de sentido y que ofrezca la posibilidad de generar un encuentro en el que sujeto y objeto son correlativos y pertenecen a un mismo horizonte vital.

Historical Truth in the Hermeneutics of T. S. Eliot

AbstractA small number of scholars have noted T. S. Eliot's anticipation of the hermeneutical theory later articulated by the philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer. Eliot similarly concerns himself with the epistemological assumptions of positivism in the human sciences and the implications of objectivizing texts and other cultural phenomena by adopting the attitude of the scientific observer. For both thinkers, this represents an approach to social life which either distorts or altogether misses the truth claims of those whose ideas are to be interpreted. Furthermore, Eliot develops a theory of understanding that is similar to the historicizing of interpretation that one finds later in Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics. However, among those who have observed these affinities, a key difference has been neglected. In his effort to confront such secularizing forces in the human sciences, Eliot comes to embrace an intellectualist philosophy of history, which relies on a tenuous dualism between the metaphysical and the physical, while Gadamer's philosophy of history collapses the dichotomy between the world of ideas and the existential realm. Thus, Eliot ultimately identifies what transcends history exclusively with the realm of the spirit. This essay argues that as the mature Eliot struggled with the empirically reductive tendencies of the human sciences and aimed to save religious truth from their deterministic assaults, he increasingly retreated to an intellectualism that misconceived the ultimate basis of religious truth. Consequently, the existing literature neglects the intellectualism that defines Eliot's understanding of truth within history and the more concrete understanding of that encounter that one finds in Gadamer's thinking.

Clinical application research through reflection, interpretation and new understanding - a hermeneutic design.

The implementation of theoretical knowledge in clinical practice and the implementation of good clinical practice into theory have been of interest in caring science for the last 30years. The aim of this article was to elaborate and discuss a methodology named clinical application research. The method is grounded in a hermeneutical design inspired by Gadamer's philosophy. The methodology, clinical application research, has been used in a research project A life in dignity and experiences from the researchers forms the bases for the elaboration and discussion. The project was performed in collaboration with residents, family caregivers and healthcare providers at six nursing homes in Scandinavia. The material for this article is based on the previous research, that is the results from 10 different articles showing the meaning of dignity and indignity in daily life in nursing homes. Data were generated from 56 individual interviews and 18 focus-group interviews with a total of 40 staff members with five to eight participants at every interview session. By reflection, interpretation and new understanding our results provide knowledge about dignity and how to preserve dignity for older people in an appropriate ethical way. The methodology was relevant for the research project A life in dignity and relevant to caring practice in nursing homes as it opens new possibilities and new ways of thinking when performing dignified care to older people.

Philosophy and Practice in Translational Hermeneutics ed. by John Stanley etal.

Reviewed by: Philosophy and Practice in Translational Hermeneutics ed. by John Stanley etal. Mohammad Ali Kharmandar John Stanley, Brian O'Keeffe, Radegundis Stolze, Larisa Cercel (Eds.), Philosophy and Practice in Translational Hermeneutics Bucharest: Zeta Books. 2018, 400 pp. The second volume of translational hermeneutics (Übersetzungshermeneutik), including the papers selected in the 2013 symposium, indicates that this movement or emerging school of translation studies and human communication is effectively consolidating its foundations while initiating a dialogue with other disciplines; in this volume three major trends are visible: (a) translational hermeneutics is developing in a self-critical line as it questions its limits (e.g. the need for empirical considerations and framing practical methods); (b) the papers selected are the matically focused (divided into philosophical and practical sections) and tend to expand the territories of the studies; and (c) literature and culture are not the sole concerns in the practical approaches, while empirical/communicative contexts and cognitive science are now part of the issues explored. This volume consists of fourteen papers (in English and German) and an introduction. In the an introductory paper, John W. Stanley, Brian O'Keeffe, Radegundis Stolze, and Larisa Cercel report the current situation of translational hermeneutics, especially in the light of issues such as empiricism and methodology. The authors admit that the underpinnings of hermeneutics are abstract, but hope that the present publication can contribute to the practical problems of translation and communication. The authors finally divide the themes addressed in the volume into six major concerns: individual subjectivity and understanding, supra-individual frameworks, voice and phonetic phenomena, effective presentation of translation to the audience, the impact of understanding on target text production, [End Page 401] a pedagogical approach to translation, and phenomenological/hermeneutical research methods in translation studies (7–12). Brian O'Keeffe tries to situate translation in Gadamer's philosophy by associating poetry translation to reading, writing and memory. Exploring two relevant essays (Stimme und Sprache and Hören-Sehen-Lesen), O'Keeffe describes writing as a fixed imprint that might represent the poet's intention, while identifying reading with understanding. Reading is seen as a medium that transforms writing into a phonetic entity. This transformation is regulated by a hermeneutic mediation, which gives an independent existence to the poem. The meticulous consistency of poetic musicality (living voice), however, suggests that poets write for readers of the same mother tongue. Therefore, although reading and translation are partially similar, the purpose of the former is to generate an artistically acoustic phenomenon, whereas the latter is meant to overcome linguistic fragmentation (and normally fails to recreate the original) (15–45). As a rarely addressed but important concern in translational hermeneutics, terminology/specialized translation inspires George Heffernan to probe into the English translation of the phenomenological terms essence (Wesen) and eidetic (Eidos) with reference to Cairns's English translation. Heffernan unfolds several accounts of complexity/ambiguity in Husserl's language and argues that word choice can influence the way a philosophical discipline is perceived. The paper concludes that translation and understanding are mutually related, prior translations can serve as a guild-line, and over-determination (consistency) and under-determination (ingenuity) can decide a term in the face of various options (47–75). In a paper that elaborates on the principle of subjectivity in translational hermeneutics, Radegundis Stolze breaks the modes of translator subjectivity into three categories: cognitive, existential, individual. Following a critical history of Western interpretation theories, Stolze explains that the cognitive dimension involves structures of thinking, self-observation, and procedures that ensure consistency in the meanings perceived. The existential dimension situates the translator in a contextualized/intersubjective position framed by history, language, culture and society. The individual aspect includes personal emotive/affective responses, deconstructive reactions to traditions, and creativity (77–99). Critical of the limits of linguistics in translation theory, Lothar Černy explores the theoretically complicated link between semeiotics and hermeneutics in translation. This study relies on Schleiermacher's hermeneutics and Peirce's semiosis to constitute its theoretical foundations. Semiotic analysis is concerned with the structure of the signifying process (e.g. function, interaction and development of interpretants), whereas hermeneutics unfolds "interpretive response." As such Peirce's theory would focus on the evolutionary growth and lack the...