ABSTRACT
Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900–2002) is one of Heidegger’s most famous students (Gadamer, 1985; see introductions by Johnson, 2000, and Lawn, 2006), whose work is situated within Germanic traditions of existentialism and hermeneutics. Gadamer lived through four regimes—Weimar, Third Reich (briefly), Communism, and the Federal Republic—which make his writings all the more interesting, even though social reality was not his object of inquiry. An influential figure, with pan-disciplinary appeal, he has been criticised for, on the one hand, conservatism, with his emphasis on tradition and authority, whilst praised for the precise opposite, his valuation of freedom, trust in dialogue, and rejection of closure (Gadamer, 2006, in conversation, explores such controversies).
