Gadamer's Dialectical Hermeneutics - Tapa dura

Barthold's close reading of Gadamer's major works enhances our understanding of philosophical hermeneutics in several significant ways. Readers who follow Barthold back to Gadamer's interpretations of the early Plato will come away with increased clarity about the particular kind of dialectic that persists and pervades Gadamer's hermeneutics. This focus on the dialectical nature of hermeneutics leads in turn to a deeper insight into the idea of the good that sustains Gadamer's hermeneutics. Thanks to Barthold, we come to understand that that which makes philosophical hermeneutics dialectical also makes it ethical. -- Kathleen Wright, Haverford College Barthold's book is a wonderful exercise in neo-pragmatic practical philosophy and will provide those interested in it with many important insights. On top of this, and beyond Barthold's larger project, many of the early chapters of her book contain valuable insights into aspects of Gadamer's reading of Plato and Aristotle that have not been thoroughly investigated, especially the relation between dialectics and hermeneutics. * Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, April 2010 * A perceptive reinterpretation and a bold defense of Gadamer's hermeneutics. Beginning with Gadamer's appropriation of themes from Plato and Aristotle, Barthold offers a new reading of Gadamer's understanding of dialogue and dialectic, the subtle interplay of theoria and praxis, and the orientation to a good that is beyond being. She beautifully shows how Gadamer's hermeneutics is a dialectical ethics. She tackles some of the most difficult issues concerning the meaning of truth and vigorously answers Gadamer's critics. This book is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the importance of hermeneutics and its contemporary relevance. -- Richard J. Bernstein, Professor of Philosophy, New School for Social Research

Gadamer's Dialectical Hermeneutics affirms the continuity between Gadamer's interest in Plato and his hermeneutics by focusing on the role of dialectic for Gadamer's own conception of understanding. Highlighting the productive and on-going nature of the dialectical tension at the heart of hermeneutics clarifies the roles that truth, good, practice, theory, and dialogue play in Gadamer's thought and emphasizes his desire to recover the practical nature of philosophy.