A Century of Philosophy: A Conversation with Riccardo Dottori

by Hans-Georg Gadamer, Rod Coltman (Translator), Sigrid Koepke (Translator)

A philosophical and historical testament to the twentieth century, this volume consists of a wide-ranging series of interviews conducted in 1999/2000 between the then centenarian and his former assistant and associate of over thirty years, Riccardo Dottori. These ten dialogues distill and situate Gadamer's philosophy in the context of what has arguably been the bloodiest century in human history. In the course of the interviews, Gadamer addresses-often critically-the work of a wide variety of philosophers, including Heidegger, Nietzsche, Jaspers, Popper, Vico, Habermas, Rorty, and Derrida. He also elaborates on German philosophy during the Nazi period; and, in one of the more fascinating conversations, we are treated to a glimpse of Gadamer's personal perspective on the question of Heidegger's Nazism, including a discussion of the political influence that great philosopher's wife, Elfirde, had on him that tends to contradict most other published accounts. With the possible exception of his autobiography 1985, A Century of Philosophy is perhaps the most accessible expression of Gadamer's life and work in English today.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction

158 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2002

About the author

Hans-Georg Gadamer was born February 11, 1900 in Marburg, Germany.
(Arabic: هانز جورج غادامير)

Gadamer showed an early aptitude for studies in philosophy and after receiving his doctoral degree in 1922 he went on to work directly under Martin Heidegger for a period of five years. This had a profound and lasting effect on Gadamer's philosophical progression.

Gadamer was a teacher for most of his life, and published several important works: Truth and Method is considered his magnum opus. In this work Heidegger's notion of hermeneutics is seen clearly: hermeneutics is not something abstract that one can pick up and leave at will, but rather is something that one does at all times. To both Heidegger and to Gadamer, hermeneutics is not restricted to texts but to everything encountered in one's life.

Gadamer is most well-known for the notion of a horizon of interpretation, which states that one does not simply interpret something, but that in the act of interpretation one becomes changed as well. In this way, he takes some of the notions from Heidegger's Being and Time, notably that which Heidegger had to say about prejudgements and their role in interpreting and he turns them into a more positive notion: Gadamer sees every act and experience (which is a hermeneutical experience to a Gadamerian) as a chance to call into question and to change those prejudgements, for in the horizon of interpretation those prejudgements are not forever fixed.

Gadamer is considered the most important writer on the nature and task of hermeneutics of the 20th century, which was still widely considered a niche within Biblical studies until Truth and Method was widely read and discussed.

He died at the age of 102 in Heidelberg (March, 2002).

Reviews

[Jake · Rating 2 out of 5]

Italian philosopher, Riccardo Dottori, interviewed Hans-Georg Gadamer on several occasions between 1999 and 2000. Their conversations were transcribed and gathered here, under the title A Century of Philosophy. The interviews cover a variety of topics, including Gadamer’s life, personal relationships, philosophic influences, politics, and much more. Some areas are cold and logical; others are warm and personal; yet all of them reveal something about Gadamer himself. The looseness and richness of the text mirrors the hermeneutic circle, offering an interesting parallel between form and content. Further, the dialogic structure dovetails nicely with Gadamer’s style, as his work is fundamentally concerned with dialogue, disclosure, and the play of language.

Each topic of discussion circles back to the Aristotelean concept of phronesis (roughly translated as good judgment or practical wisdom). Taken together, phronesis and dialogue form the main organizing themes of the interviews, as well as Gadamer’s entire philosophic project. Those same intellectual concerns also gave Gadamer a degree of flexibility and depth, allowing him to write on a vast range of topics – even those traditionally considered to be outside of the domain of academic philosophy, such as medicine (see my earlier review on his Enigma of Health). As a result, there has been a remarkable sense of compatibility between Gadamer and the American pragmatist tradition, which can especially be found in figures such as Richard Rorty.

And yet, for such a brilliant thinker, so oriented toward practical wisdom and reasonableness, I came away from this text completely disappointed in Gadamer’s judgment on a number of vital political, historical, and moral issues. For instance, Gadamer refused to identify Heidegger as an anti-Semite because he had Jewish associates, even though he readily admits that Heidegger’s political fanaticism was well-established. Somewhere in the course of conversation, he says the following: “[h]e [i.e., Heidegger] was constantly associating with the Nazis, and everyone thought he was crazy.” If being a “crazy” Nazi doesn’t make you an anti-Semite, then I’m not sure what criteria would be sufficient. In the same line of questioning, Dottori raises the fact that Heidegger’s wife was commonly perceived as anti-Semitic – apparently she had a nasty habit of spewing racial slurs at parties. To this, Gadamer dismisses the label and describes her behaviour as “gossip” rather than authentic anti-Semitism.

The troubles don’t end with Heidegger, unfortunately. Gadamer’s understanding of the role that popular anti-Semitism played in Hitler’s rise and consolidation of power is wholly inadequate and strangely naïve. Consider the following comment, which he offered while exploring some of the reasons that Nazism took hold in Germany: “On the other hand, I do want to point out that anti-Semitism was completely unpopular among the people – there was no question of Germans desiring it.” Historians know this is simply not true. Anti-Semitism had popular currency in Germany, as well as concrete legal and institutional legitimation. Again, this blindness only reinforces the accusations leveled against modern German philosophers as a disturbingly amoral and apolitical bunch.

Although these interviews took place before the bombshell revelation of Heidegger’s Black Notebooks, which put the anti-Semitism question to bed once and for all, time has proven the error of Gadamer’s evaluation of Heidegger’s character. An ironic and unfortunate aspect of Gadamer’s conversations, then, is their lack of phronesis on the Nazi question as it appears in the life and work of Heidegger narrowly, and in German society and culture more broadly. A decidedly poor contribution from a thinker of this stature.

[Dionysius the Areopagite · Rating 5 out of 5]

Should one's beach reading be set and one seeketh bathroom reading material for the profane renting one's living living quarters that week, look no further than this book to leave beside the sink. Ye shall do for man the work of yesteryear's saints, angels, &c