Hans-Georg Gadamer, Emilio Betti e il futuro dell'ermeneutica filosofica

Hans-Georg Gadamer, Emilio Betti and the future of philosophical hermeneutics - For Gadamer, the hermeneutic act is a phenomenological and, at the same time, a metaphysical (or ontological) act: true inter pretation reveals phenomena as a means of reaching the thing. In this context Gadamer mentions the Darstellung des Seins and conceives of the hermeneutic act as a Zuwachs an Sein, an Ereignis of language that brings about an increase of the thing interpreted. Against this thesis Emilio Betti sets the idea of the objective reconstruction and perfection of the text. He points out the subjectivist and anti-methodical flaw of Gadamer’s hermeneutics. However, he disregards the importance of Gadamer’s applicative element (of the Zuwachs, the increase of being), which always takes place in every interpretative act. The opposition between the two prevailing hermeneutical currents today (post-Heideggerian hermeneutics and methodical hermeneutics) is clear. Betti’s (and Hirsch’s) distinction between Bedeutung and Bedeutsamkeit, Meaning and Significance, opens the way to a new ontological reflection on the interpretative act, linking both hermeneutical currents, while moving away from Hegel’s concept of Darstellung. This confirms the fact that the increase of being of the meaning, which inevitably accompanies every interpretative act, does not concern the original meaning itself, the Bedeutung of the text as such, but only its relevance (Bedeutsamkeit). Abstracts 203;

Claudio Tuozzolo, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Emilio Betti e il futuro dell'ermeneutica filosofica in "PARADIGMI" 3/2008, pp 109-127, DOI: