Browsing by Subject "Gadamer"

This study considers the life experience designated by the concept of dialogue in Hans-Georg Gadamer’s phenomenological hermeneutics. Dialogue is a major philosophical topic, but it is also central in the context of pedagogy. The concept of dialogue has become prominent in recent pedagogical discussions, where its role as the central aim of learning and teaching has often been emphasized. The goal of the study is to clarify, with the help of Gadamer’s thought and relevant commentary literature, the theoretical grounds of the concept of dialogue, and so to elaborate its dimension. Working on Gadamer’s philosophical theory and the relations between its major concepts, this study belongs to the area of theoretical basic research. Its research question concerns the way the concept of dialogue is connected to the concepts of experience and understanding. The study follows the method of descriptive literature review, combined with philosophical research. The research material consists of philosophical texts. The theoretical framework is constituted by previous research and commentary literature addressing Gadamer’s thought. The primary sources are Gadamer’s philosophical main work Wahrheit und Methode, together with four philosophical studies written by Francis Ambrosio, Colin Davis, Francisco Gonzalez and Martin Nosál. The keywords used in the text search were dialogue, Gadamer and dialogue, Gadamer and conversation, Gadamer and dialectic, Gadamer´s logic of dialogue, Gadamer´s structure of dialogue, Gadamer´s negative dialogue, Gadamer understanding experience dialogue. The research material shows that dialogue, in Gadamer’s thought, cannot be considered disconnected from the phenomena of experience and understanding. These phenomena are structurally intertwined. Central aspects found in experience and understanding are present also in dialogue. They all show a processual and dialectical character, in which particular negativity plays a crucial role in the constitution of their meaning. The processes of dialogue, experience and understanding only come about in the medium of language, while they are at once its conditions. Dialogue, experience and understanding belong together as the basic traits of the manifold unity of being-in-the-world. To consider one of these traits means necessarily to consider also the others. Gadamer’s thought shows that they must be addressed together.