The concept of prejudice (Vorurteil) occupies a central and provocative place in Hans-Georg Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics. In everyday usage, “prejudice” suggests a distortion, a judgment made without sufficient evidence, something to be overcome if one wishes to think rationally. Enlightenment thinkers in particular saw prejudice as the enemy of reason, calling for its elimination through critical method. Gadamer, however, reverses this valuation. For him, prejudice is not necessarily a flaw; it is an unavoidable condition of understanding.
Every act of interpretation begins with anticipations and assumptions—expectations about what a text, event, or person might mean. These anticipations are not arbitrary; they stem from our historical belonging, our tradition, and the language we inhabit. Gadamer calls these anticipatory structures “prejudices.” They are not final judgments but provisional starting points, the conditions that make understanding possible at all. To try to eliminate them would be to eliminate the very ground from which interpretation can proceed.
Yet not all prejudices are valid. Gadamer stresses that prejudices must be tested and revised in the course of hermeneutical experience. Here the concept of the hermeneutic circle comes into play: we approach a text with expectations, encounter the subject matter, and are often surprised, even contradicted, by what we find. This negative experience—the shattering of false prejudices—is what deepens understanding. A person of genuine experience, Gadamer writes, is one who has learned to keep themselves open, aware of the fallibility of their own prejudgments.
Prejudice, then, is both enabling and limiting. It enables understanding by providing an entry point, yet it can also close off meaning if it hardens into dogma. The task of hermeneutics is not to abolish prejudice but to remain open to its transformation through dialogue and encounter with tradition.
By rehabilitating prejudice, Gadamer gives a more realistic account of how understanding works. Rather than imagining a neutral, prejudice-free observer, he describes interpretation as a living process in which our historically shaped anticipations are continually challenged and reshaped. In this way, prejudice becomes not a barrier to truth, but a path by which truth can reach us.
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