A Phenomenology of the polis? Ethics, Dialectic and Hermeneutics in Gadamer?s Early Interpretation of Plato

Book Chapter

Summary *

This chapter examines Gadamer’s early interpretation of Plato, focusingon his 1931 work Platos dialektische Ethik, to demonstrate howhis understanding of Platonic dialectic as the theory of dialogue’sobjective possibility marked a decisive philosophical departurefrom Heidegger. Through a detailed analysis of Gadamer’s phenomenologicalreading of the Philebus and his conception of the pólis,the study reveals how his early engagement with Platonic philosophylaid the groundwork for his later development of philosophicalhermeneutics. The investigation centres on three interconnectedthemes: the relationship between dialectic and hermeneutics, thenature of ethico-political understanding, and the significance ofgenuine dialogue in human finitude. The chapter argues that Gadamer’sinterpretation of areté and his conception of the pólis as themode of being of ‘worldly’ human beings led him to develop a distinctivephilosophical position where the ethico-political dimensionof understanding emerges through dialogue with others. This early divergence from Heideggerian philosophy—particularly regardingthe concepts of Miteinandersein and human finitude—provedcrucial for Gadamer’s subsequent philosophical development. Thestudy demonstrates how Gadamer’s initial confrontation with Platoalready contained the seeds of a dialogical conception of understandingthat would fundamentally shape his mature thought whileilluminating the political implications of his break with Heidegger. Information provided by the agent in SIGEVA