Hans-Georg Gadamer

Gadamer on Celan makes all of Hans-Georg Cadamer's published writings on Paul Celan's poetry available in English for the first time. Gadamer's commentaries on Celan's work are explicitly meant for a general audience, and they are further testimony to Celan's growing importance in world literature since the Second World War. Celan's poetry has attracted the attention of many well-known figures, including Maurice Blanchot, Jacques Derrida, Edmond Jabes, Otto Poggeler, and George Steiner. As Steiner has said, "It will take a long time for our sensibilities to apprehend poetry of these dimensions and this radicality." Gadamer's commentaries will help readers to listen to Celan's poetry, and to become acquainted with his only book-length commentary on a poet, using the best example of Gadamer's thinking on the relationship of philosophy and poetry. This book also contains a translation of Who Am I and Who Are You?, the centerpeice of Gadamer's most important philosophical project since the publication of Truth and Method (1960).

"Truth and Method is a landmark work of 20th century thought which established Hans Georg-Gadamer as one of the most important philosophical voices of the 20th Century. In this book, Gadamer established the field of 'philosophical hermeneutics': exploring the nature of knowledge, the book rejected traditional quasi-scientific approaches to establishing cultural meaning that were prevalent after the war. In arguing the 'truth' and 'method' acted in opposition to each other, Gadamer examined the ways in which historical and cultural circumstance fundamentally influenced human understanding. It was an approach that would become hugely influential in the humanities and social sciences and remains so to this day in the work of Jurgen Habermas and many others"--

"In The Beginning of Philosophy Gadamer explores the layers of interpretation and misinterpretation that have built up over 2500 years of Presocratic scholarship. Using Plato and Aristotle as his starting point his analysis moves effortlessly from Simplicius and Diogenes Laertius to the 19th-century German historicists right through to Hegel, Nietzsche and Heidegger. Gadamer shows us how some of the earliest philosophical concepts such as truth, equality, nature, spirit and being came to be and how our understanding of them today is deeply indebted to Presocratic thinkers. The book is based on a series of lectures delivered by Gadamer in 1967 which were then translated into English and edited by Gadamer for this collection. This is a major philosophical-historical work from one of the 20th century's greatest thinkers"--

Seit Ende der 80er Jahre erleben wir Entwicklungen, die unsere Vorstellungen von dem, was ist und sein kann, gründlich auf den Kopf gestellt haben. Die Um­ wälzungen in Osteuropa, die deutsche Wiedervereinigung, aber auch der europäi­ sche Binnenmarkt und das Zusammenwachsen Europas haben unsere Betrachtung der Welt gründlich verändert. Wir sind Zeugen eines weltweiten Wandels von der alten Konfrontation zu einer multipolaren und interdependenten Welt. Auf wirt­ schaftlicher Ebene gehen die weltweiten Veränderungen mit einer Globalisierung der Märkte und Unternehmen einher. Auch die inzwischen weltweite Bedrohung unserer Umwelt ist ein Problem, das wir nur noch in enger globaler Zusammenar­ beit in den Griff bekommen können. Je eher wir unseren Blick über den Tellerrand unserer nationalen Probleme hin­ aus auf die Probleme der globalen Zusammenhänge richten, von denen wir längst abhängig sind, desto eher werden wir in der Lage sein, die vielfaltigen Herausfor­ derungen der Zukunft zu meistem. Notwendig sind eigenständige, kreative Ant­ worten auf die Globalisierung und den fortschreitenden Wandel in Politik, Wirt­ schaft und Gesellschaft. Daß dies nicht von heute auf morgen zu bewerkstelligen ist, wissen alle, die sich mit dem Phänomen der Globalisierung beschäftigen. Zu komplex sind die vielfaltigen Chancen und Risiken, die sich aus der weltweiten Angleichung der Lebensverhältnisse ergeben. Ich freue mich daher, daß der Heidelberger Club für Wirtschaft und Kultur sowohl mit seinem Symposium als auch erneut mit dem vorliegenden Band die Möglichkeiten, aber auch die Probleme des globalen Zeital­ters aufgreift.

"Ethics and Aesthetics in History collects together Gadamer's most important untranslated writings on ethics, aesthetics and language. With a substantial introduction by the editors exploring Gadamer's ethical project and providing an overview of his aesthetic work, this book collects Gadamer's writings on ancient ethics, including the moral philosophy of Aristotle, and on practical philosophy. In the final section, Gadamer's writings on art and language are collected, including his examination of poetry, opera and painting among other art forms, and such topics as artistic language and translation."--

The combination of author and subject matter found here makes an unusually interesting text on the Continental European Philosophy of the twentieth century. As Heidegger's former student, colleague and lifelong friend, Gadamer offers a particularly insightful commentary on Heidegger's thinking. Not only do the essays focus on Heidegger's thought, but they also often begin with a description of the philosophical scene in which he first appeared, giving the reader a genuine feel for the kind of impact he made. But the essays do not leave off in the past; rather, they lead into the present, giving Heidegger a voice which continues to have a revolutionary impact. . The text does not only provide a commentary on Heidegger; it also provides a fascinating look at Gadamer himself. The narratives provide us with an intimate look at both the author and his hermeneutics at work, and his commentary on Heidegger's thought is a commentary on his own thought as well.