The Original Truth of Understanding and Taking Action: Gadamer on Plurality and Solidarity

Starting from his conception of an original “extra-methodical” truth, of which one can gain experience through art, history, and philosophy, Gadamer enhances the fore-predicative dimension of knowledge. In his opinion, the awareness of our “pre-judices” – the voice of tradition –, reached through interpretation, opens up to the otherness of the other and increases friendship as well as solidarity. By defining hermeneutics as practical philosophy thanks to a re-working of Aristotle’s concept of phrónesis, Gadamer starts up a “rehabilitation of practical philosophy”. This “recovery” contributed to overcoming the world crisis in the mid-twentieth century and could still orient a “life together” within today’s ethical and political frameworks.