Elements of the Future in Gadamer's Conception of Understanding

Abstract

In this essay, I offer an exegetical analysis of futural elements in Gadamer’s concept of understanding from Truth and Method. Gadamer’s opus magnum is largely known for his focus on the finite historical features of human existence through notions such as history of effects, prejudice, tradition, authority, etc. My thesis is that Gadamer’s ideas of history and historical understanding remain inadequately grasped if too much weight is placed on the temporal dimension of the past. By a close reading of some salient concepts articulating Gadamer’s theory of hermeneutical understanding, my aim is to shed light upon the dimension of the future that these concepts entail. As a result, my contribution provides an interpretive schema that detects a theory of the future running through Gadamer’s investigation of the hermeneutic phenomenon.