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7 - Gadamer on the Human Sciences

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 July 2021

Robert Dostal
Affiliation:
Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania
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Summary

Gadamer has made a tremendous contribution to twentieth century thought, for he has proposed a new and different model of understanding and understanding in the human sciences that carries us beyond the dilemma of ethnocentrism and relativism. This model is not that of a “science” that grasps an object but rather one of speech-partners who come to an understanding together. Three important features of understanding are (1) it is bilateral in character, (2) it is party dependent, and (3) it involves revising goals. It follows that there is an important difference between the human sciences and the natural sciences. Important to Gadamer’s model of the human sciences is the “fusion of horizons.” This chapter discusses the proximity of Davidson and Gadamer and their differences.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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