Philosophy Dictionary of ArgumentsHome
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| Historical consciousness: Historical consciousness is the awareness of the past and its impact on the present and future. It is the ability to understand the world we live in through the lens of history. See also History, Historiography, Understanding._____________Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments. | |||
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Hans-Georg Gadamer on Historical Consciousness - Dictionary of Arguments
I 365 Historical Consciousness/Gadamer: [Gadamer puts the historical consciousness in a context with the >I-You-Relationship]: The I-You-Relationship is not a direct but a reflective relation. All claim corresponds to a counterclaim. In it arises the possibility that each of the partners in the relationship reflects on the other. He or she claims to know the claim of the other from him- or herself, even to understand him or her better than he or she understands him- herself. In this way the you loses the immediacy with which it makes its claim on someone. It is understood, i.e. it is anticipated from the point of view of the other and is intercepted in a reflective manner. I 366 In the hermeneutical realm, such experience of the you now corresponds to what is generally called historical consciousness. The historical consciousness knows about the otherness of the other, about the past in its otherness as well as the understanding of the you knows the same as a person. It does not seek in the other of the past the case of a general regularity, but a historically unique one. By claiming to rise above all its own conditionality in recognizing it, however, it is caught up in a dialectical semblance, since in reality it seeks to master the past, as it were. This does not have to happen with the speculative claim of a philosophy of world history - it can also, as an ideal of the completed Enlightenment, shine ahead of the course of experience of the historical sciences, as we recognized it, for instance, in Dilthey. >Historical Consciousness/Dilthey. In our analysis of hermeneutic consciousness, we have uncovered the dialectical appearance produced by historical consciousness, which corresponds to the dialectical appearance of experience completed in knowledge, to the extent that the ideal of historical enlightenment is something unattainable. Whoever thinks he or she can be certain of his or her own unprejudicedness by relying on the objectivity of one's procedure and denying one's own historical conditionality, experiences the violence of the prejudices that dominate him or her uncontrollably as a vis a tergo. Whoever does not want to acknowledge the judgments that dominate him or her will misjudge what is shown in their light. It is like the relationship between I and you. >Objectivism/Gadamer, >Prejudice/Gadamer, >Method/Gadamer. Solution/Gadamer: Tradition, handing-down: standing in tradition I 367 (...) does not restrict the freedom of recognition, but makes it possible. Openness: It is this knowledge and recognition that constitutes a third, the highest form of hermeneutical experience: openness to the tradition that the consciousness of the history of action possesses. It too has a genuine correspondence to the experience of the you. In human behaviour it is important, as we saw, to really experience the you as you, i.e. not to overhear your claim and to let yourself be told something by it. Cf. >Criticism/Schlegel._____________Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition. |
Gadamer I Hans-Georg Gadamer Wahrheit und Methode. Grundzüge einer philosophischen Hermeneutik 7. durchgesehene Auflage Tübingen 1960/2010 Gadamer II H. G. Gadamer The Relevance of the Beautiful, London 1986 German Edition: Die Aktualität des Schönen: Kunst als Spiel, Symbol und Fest Stuttgart 1977 |
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> Counter arguments against Gadamer
> Counter arguments in relation to Historical Consciousness
Ed. Martin Schulz, access date 2024-04-27