Hans-Georg Gadamer

Kelsey Wood (University of Arkansas at Little Rock)

Ed. by Gerhard P. Knapp, University of Utah
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.4.1: German-language Writing and Culture: Germany, 500-present.
Vol. editors: Gerhard P. Knapp (University of Utah), Jennifer Marston William (Purdue University), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jill E. Twark (East Carolina University)

Dates

Born 11 Feb 1900
Died 13 Mar 2002
Activity 1922-2002

Places

Born in Germany
Active in Germany

Activities

Primary

Philosopher

Resources

Gadamer's Works

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Hans-Georg Gadamer, one of the most important thinkers of the twentieth century, transformed the art of hermeneutics by making it philosophical and, in doing so, he showed that philosophy is essentially hermeneutics. He was born on 11 February 1900 in Marburg an der Lahn, Germany, and died in Heidelberg on 13 March 2002, at the age of 102. Gadamer's life spanned a century of German philosophy: from classical philology, through neo-Kantianism, to a moderate German nationalism and, after the Second World War, from socialism to a critique of the globalizing tendencies inherent in technology.

Hermeneutics is the study of the principles of interpretation, and Gadamer's achievement was to show that all interpretations are derived from a basic level of understanding, or pre-judgment, that is

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3102 words

Citation: Wood, Kelsey. "Hans-Georg Gadamer". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 December 2003 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1663, accessed 21 November 2024.]