Gadamer’s Ambivalence toward the Enlightenment Project

This essay explores Gadamer’s ambivalent relationship with modernity. Gadamer is a prominent critic of the Enlightenment project. His criticismsare both theoretical and practical. Theoretically, representationalism is at the center of modern epistemology for Gadamer. Practically, Gadamer sees the demotion of prudence (phronesis) as fundamental to the bad Enlightenment. Gadamer’s attempt to revive an appreciation of rhetoric isa way to the join the theoretical and practical dimensions of speech and life. The central representative philosopher of the Enlightenment forGadamer is Kant. The antithetical thinker is Aristotle. Gadamer would have his Kant and his Aristotle too. The tension between these is at theheart of Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics.

کلیدواژه ها:

Gadamer ، Enlightenment ، Modernity ، Philosophical Hermeneutics ، Understanding ، Language