Cultural Reader: Gadamer in Context: Philosophy After Heidegger

Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900–2002) is often remembered as the philosopher of understanding. His work transformed hermeneutics—the art of interpretation—into a fundamental philosophical project. But to appreciate what Gadamer achieved, it helps to situate him in the world of ideas that shaped him: the turbulent 20th century, with its crises of truth, authority, and meaning.

From Heidegger to Hermeneutics

Gadamer studied under Martin Heidegger in the 1920s, a period when philosophy was still reeling from the upheavals of modern science and the collapse of traditional certainties. Heidegger’s Being and Time had shifted attention from abstract theories of knowledge to the question of human existence: how we find ourselves in the world. Gadamer absorbed this lesson but redirected it. While Heidegger asked about the meaning of Being, Gadamer asked about the conditions of understanding. If our knowledge of the world is always historically situated, how can we ever truly interpret texts, traditions, or even one another?

In turning hermeneutics into a universal philosophy, Gadamer took up the challenge of reconciling human finitude with the possibility of truth. His project would resist both the extremes of relativism, which denies shared meaning, and scientism, which insists on one rigid standard of knowledge.

The Crisis of Method

Mid-20th century philosophy was dominated by the prestige of science. The assumption was that genuine truth must be modeled on scientific method—objective, verifiable, and reproducible. Gadamer’s response, crystallized in his magnum opus Truth and Method (1960), was to show that much of human experience cannot be captured by scientific methodology. When we read a novel, encounter a work of art, or engage in dialogue, we do not apply a method; we enter into an event of understanding that transforms us.

For Gadamer, this meant that truth is not confined to science. Art, history, and philosophy also reveal truths—truths that emerge through interpretation, conversation, and participation in tradition.

The Question of Tradition

Unlike some of his contemporaries, Gadamer refused to see tradition as an obstacle. He argued that we always stand within traditions, and these shape our perspective. Far from imprisoning us, tradition makes understanding possible. Our inherited “prejudices” (a term Gadamer used without its negative connotation) provide the background against which dialogue and interpretation can unfold.

This emphasis on tradition positioned Gadamer against thinkers who saw philosophy as a break from the past. Instead, Gadamer offered a vision of philosophy as a conversation across generations, where the voices of the past continue to speak, and our own horizon expands in dialogue with theirs.

A Philosophy for Our Time

Gadamer’s thought remains significant because it recognizes both the limits and possibilities of human understanding. We never grasp the world from a neutral standpoint, yet we are not locked in isolation either. Understanding is possible—but only as a shared, ongoing process.

By reframing philosophy as hermeneutics, Gadamer gave us a way to navigate the pluralism and fragmentation of modern life: not by chasing absolute certainty, but by cultivating dialogue, openness, and the humility to learn from the other.