[...]... face the question about being, he had to dispose methodically of the question about knowing As a result, philosophy devolved into an epistemology of the positive sciences; instead of being the handmaiden of theology, it became the servant of the so-called modern sciences During the late nineteenth century and within the academies of Europe, this state of affairs was epitomized by the then-dominant... Document Page xvii ently; 15 16 as well as with his strictures regarding the normative character of the intention of the author Underlying Gadamer's point is the incontrovertible fact that whenever one understands anything significant (let alone classic texts), one is already engaged in the business of taking up a stance toward the future in the light of the past Reading, then, is a matter of anticipating... Document Page xvi commenting upon the differences distinguishing him from his mentor, Heidegger, asks: What does the end of metaphysics as a science mean? When science expands into a total technocracy and thus brings on the "cosmic night" of the "forgetfulness of being", the nihilism that Nietzsche prophesied, then may one look at the last fading light of the sun that is set in the evening sky, instead of. .. here be called "the philosophic element in the sciences," that is, the dimension of foundational concepts that determine the objective field of any given science, as for example, inorganic and organic nature, the plant world, the animal world, or the human world And in its own style of thinking and knowing, such philosophy does not at all intend to lag behind the binding character of the sciences Although... although it fail in the minority"; and knowledge in terms of affinity and sympathy, of interest for the entire nature of human being In spite of the fact that it is not systematic in the usual sense, Gadamer thinks of this metatheory as transcendental in the sense of being relevant to every instance of authentic human judgment Consequently it can play an architectonic role in the contemporary context... science. " As we know now, the Lebensphilosophie of Dilthey, dialectical theology's critique of liberal theology, the reception in Germany of the works of Kierkegaard and Dostoevsky, the emergence of expressionism in both life and art all these things were ushering in a new epoch In philosophy, the arrival of this epochal shift was characterized by the critique of the presuppositions of philosophy under file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/Owner/My%20Docume... battle against both the "nominalist prejudgment" entailed by "aesthetic consciousness" in the first part of Truth and Method, and against the "positivism in the field of history" involved in historical as opposed to 'hermeneutic" 12 consciousness in the second part of Truth and Method In general, the central role played for either thinker by the reality of communicative practice is emblematic of the closeness... grounded 26 notion of the immediacy of human experience; formalism of Kant's moral philosophy; 27 of Hegel's critique of the extreme subjectivism and of Hegel's sensitivity to the "substance" ever at work in the 28 unfolding of the world-historical "subject" in history; of the suggestiveness of Hegel's notion of the 29 "speculative.'' But I do not want to give the impression that in his profound admiration... in the language of any society and internalized in the 47 characters of people within that society The implication is that inasmuch as any given society has a class structure dividing along lines of a "merely dominant minority" and an "internal proletariat," then the values, distinctions, promptings, and recognitions of potentiality of any person or group are suspect from the outset The rather divergent... although the Heideggerian motifs pervade these essays like an undertow, the focal figures in the bulk of the essays collected here are Hegel and Aristotle Gadamer and Hegel The tendency of Gadamer's reception of Hegel is to steer clear of the extremes represented by either the conservative Hegelians of the right, who might be said to overstress the hermeneutics of recovery to the point of legitimating the . the myths, stories, and rituals had been intended as answers: Why is there anything at all and not nothing? Why are things the way they are? In the writings of Plato, the asking and answering. handmaiden of theology, it became the servant of the so-called modern sciences. During the late nineteenth century and within the academies of Europe, this state of affairs was epitomized by the then-dominant. future in the light of the past. Reading, then, is a matter of anticipating meaning and of correcting one's anticipations, precisely because human living already has that kind of structure. In