Gadamer's transformation of hermeneutics : from Dilthey to Heidegger

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to show how Gadamer's hermeneutics synthesizes the insights of both Heidegger and Dilthey in order to introduce a new hermeneutics. Gadamer's hermeneutics is based not only on the priority of ontology, as Heidegger insists, and neither is it only a product of life which can be objectively understood through study and rigorous method, as Dilthey suggests. For Gadamer, hermeneutics is the bringing together of ontology in terms of history. By this synthesis Gadamer not only places himself within the context of a Lebensphilosophie, but also shows that it is within language that Being can be disclosed according to a lived context. Throughout this paper the philosophies ofDilthey and Heidegger are explicated within a historical context as to bring out how, and why, Gadamer sees the need to surpass these philosophies. Through Gadamer's philosophy of play and the game, language, the dialogical model, application, and the fusion of horizons we can see how Gadamer's critique and questioning of these two philosophy leads to his new hermeneutics. Special attention is paid to the role in which these two contrasting philosophies were used to complement each other in the product of Gadamer' s philosophical hermeneutics as it is presented in his major work Truth andMethod. For Gadamer, the task of understanding is never complete. Therefore, his hermeneutics remains a dynamic structure with which we can always question the past and our traditions. This paper seeks to show his philosophical movements within these questions

Original Chapman home ranch packing house, Santa Ysabel, California, ca. 1900

Original Chapman home ranch packing house, Santa Ysabel, California, ca. 1900. [copy print]

Annual report of the Commissioners of the State Reservation at Niagara, 1899-1900.

Report year irregular.

Annual report of the Commissioners of the State Reservation at Niagara, 1900-1901.

Report year irregular.

Niagara Parks Commission annual report, 1900.

Printed by Order of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.

Charles Clarke Chapman, circa 1900

Charles Clarke Chapman, circa 1900.

Group portrait with Charles Clarke Chapman, Samuel James, and George Arthur Chapman Sr., circa 1900.

Copy of a damaged group portrait with Charles Clarke Chapman on the left, Samuel James on the right, and young man in front with hat and tie is George Arthur Chapman Sr., circa 1900.

Grand Trunk Railway way bills, 1900

The Grand Trunk Railway initially ran from Montreal to Toronto, then with expansion of Canada operated to British Columbia, linking major cities together. In 1900, two way bill forms were completed; one for the Niagara Falls Wine Co. and the other for T.G. Bright & Co. Both companies were headquartered in Niagara Falls, Ont. The consignors were John Mayberry & Co. and John Eleareys?.

Proceedings : Grand Lodge, A.F. & A.M. of Canada in the Province of Ontario - 1900

On spine : The Grand Lodge of Canada in the Province of Ontario.

E.O. Graham, nurseryman, planting guide leaflets collection, ca. 1900.

Edward Oliver Graham of Rochester, N.Y. worked as a nurseryman in that city for 27 years. He owned a nursery business that operated under his own name for many years. The central office was located in Rochester, but there was also a branch located in Toronto, Ont. In 1903 he formed a company known as the Graham Nursery Company. He died in September 1909.

Letter - Samuel J. Moyer to Ethelwyn Wetherald, 12 September 1900

Samuel J. Moyer letter to Ethelwyn Wetherald, 1900

Illustration - Drawing of Pig while Blindfolded, 23 July 1900

The illustration of a pig is part of an autograph book collection of Ethelwyn Wetherald. Her collection consists of drawings of pigs her guests create while blindfolded. The signature of each guest accompanies the illustration. This illustration was done by Margaret H. Dorland in the year 1900.