There is way, this is a method
13
Sep
Beyond the historical truth, opposed to hermeneutics (Shcleimacher) and romantic historicism (Dilthey), Gadamer deals
with the question of truth linked to both religion and art, a transdisciplinary anticipation, and perhaps perhaps its “method” (see our previous post the Ricoeur question), put it this way: “A cultured society that has fallen away from its religious traditions expects more from art than the aesthetic consciousness and the ‘standpoint of art’ can deliver.
The Romantic desire for a new mythology… gives the artist and his task in the world the consciousness of a new consecration. He is something like a ‘secular saviour’ for his creations are expected to achieve on a small scale the propitiation of disaster for which an unsaved world hopes.” (Gadamer, 1989), of course, salvation here would be earthly and not heavenly.
In fact, it is what we understand by history that makes us skating at levels of tradition, says Gadamer on history “In truth history does not belong to us but rather we to it.” (Gadamer, 1989)
Gadamer explains the difficulties not only historical, but mainly the prejudices linked to tradition: “It is the tyranny of hidden prejudices that makes us deaf to what speaks to us in tradition.” (Gadamer, 1989)
And agree in this dialog´s difficult: “We cannot understand without wanting to understand, that is, without wanting to let something be said…Understanding does not occur when we try to intercept what someone wants to say to us by claiming we already know it.”
It indicates how to put this into practical and real plans: “What man needs is not just the persistent posing of ultimate questions, but the sense of what is feasible, what is possible, what is correct, here and now. The philosopher, of all people, must, I think, be aware of the tension between what he claims to achieve and the reality in which he finds himself.” (Gadamer, 1989)
It is necessary to foresee (virtually) possibilities, but to be able to adapt them within the real possibilities, so there is no romantic hermeneutics or historicism, both must bear in mind the realities and interpret them.
Gadamer, H.G. Truth and Method, 2nd edn, Sheed and Ward, London 1989.
