Gadamer"s Century

Philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer has made major contributions to aesthetic theory, Plato and Hegel studies, humanistic studies, and the philosophy of history. A student of Martin Heidegger, Gadamer took up and developed a number of central Heideggerian insights. He also had productive public debates with contemporaries such as Emilio Betti and Jürgen Habermas. The shape of contemporary hermeneutics is due almost entirely to Gadamer"s influence, and his magnum opus, Truth and Method, is considered one of the great philosophical works of the twentieth century.

This book is dedicated to Gadamer in honor of his hundredth birthday, in 2000. The essays provide a measure of the classical character of Gadamer"s work by showing the breadth of engagement his ideas have provoked. As in Gadamer"s own life and work, dialogue and conversation figure as important themes in all of the essays. While they encompass a diversity of philosophical perspectives, interests, and styles, the essays also suggest the ever-present possibility of dialogue across language and tradition and of the formation of new modes of discourse and philosophizing.