Main Elements of H.-G. Gadamer’s Communication Hermeneutics

Abstract

This study explores the communication articulations of Hans-Georg Gadamer’s hermeneutics. The research method that was used is a mix between the meta-analytic method, comparative method and hermeneutic method. It starts from the assumption that in order to understand the communication universe, this has to be judged in relation with some pre-determined axes. The corpus of analysis is hermeneutical work of Gadamer. We prove that, founder of the philosophical hermeneutics, Gadamer is also one of the founders of communication hermeneutics. The thetic articulation radiography of the Gadamerian work highlights that activities of hermeneutics inevitably occur within communication; communication includes strong interpretive-hermeneutic flows. Gadamer considers the interpretation as an intrinsic process of communication: no communication can exist without interpretation. The work reveals as main elements of Gadamerian hermeneutic conception of communication: universality of interpretation (of reason, language and understanding), hermeneutical situation (addressing, fusion of horizons), the principle and the canon of interpretation.