Discussion between H.-G. Gadamer and J. Derrida and the late hermeneutics of H.-G. Gadamer

Abstract

The article offers an interpretation of the discussion between H.-G. Gadamer and J. Derrida as a starting point for the elaboration of Gadamer’s late hermeneutics, which differs from the project of “Truth and Method”. The three key concepts of that project are: good will to understanding, dialog and participation. They mark out the intersubjective nature of understanding, which is not so much the increasing knowledge, but the transformation of subjectivity. The good will to understand implies the resolution to be engaged in a relationship with indefinite end, where subjectivity is at stake. The dialog as an “inherent” mode of being-with and the origin of speech joints intersubjectivity and understanding. It is the challenging relation, in which tension unfolds between the desire for understanding and the maintenance of difference in meanings. The participation marks the singularity of the situation of understanding. The involved subjectivity experiences the transformative effect of understanding. The late hermeneutics of H.-G. Gadamer is characterised by the description of a “weak” subjectivity, which has some alterity in itself. Instead of the opposition “I – Other (not-I)” on the background of a common world, we propose to consider understanding as a process of interaction of singular life-worlds, where the common ground is not guaranteed.