Gadamer on Art and Aesthetic Experience: Rethinking Hermeneutical Aesthetics Today

Hans-Georg Gadamer was one of the greatest intellectual figures of the twentieth century. As a philosopher trained in phenomenology, he established philosophical hermeneutics as one of the leading traditions of contemporary philosophy and opened new paths for philosophical reflection. Within the many dimensions of Gadamer's vast, complex, and multifaceted thinking, a special role is played by the question concerning the relevance of the various arts and the centrality of aesthetic experience in human life. Despite being one of the most relevant voices of twentieth-century philosophy, Gadamer's hermeneutics has at times been overlooked in contemporary philosophical debates. The firm conviction at the basis of this volume is that Gadamer's thought is still relevant today, especially regarding aesthetic questions concerning the persistent meaning and truth of art in the age of what he called "the shadow of nihilism" and in the age of the so-called "end of art." In contrast to the claim that Gadamer's philosophy is "anti-modern," or allegedly "out of date" in comparison to other philosophical approaches to aesthetic questions, Gadamer on Art and Aesthetic Experience aims to show that a renewed and critical confrontation with Gadamer's aesthetic thinking can offer stimulating and penetrating insights to understand the role of art in contemporary society in all its transformations and its challenging manifestations.