Hans-Georg Gadamer

Hans-Georg Gadamer was a German philosopher and the foremost exponent of philosophical hermeneutics. His Truth and Method argued that all understanding is historically conditioned and dialogical, challenging the Enlightenment ideal of method-based objectivity and making tradition central to interpretation.

Gadamer's concept of the "fusion of horizons" — whereby understanding occurs when the interpreter's historical horizon merges with that of the text — transformed literary theory, theology, and the social sciences. His debate with Habermas about whether tradition can be critically appropriated defined a generation of hermeneutical discussion.