ABSTRACT
Hans-Georg Gadamer's magnum opus, Truth and Method, which appeared in 1960, is the principle exposition of a version of phenomenology commonly referred to as 'hermeneutics'. Hermeneutics is the art of interpretation. It takes its name from Hermes, the messenger of the gods. The aim of hermeneutics, all practitioners agree, is Verstehen, 'understanding', understanding of texts. Modern hermeneuticists, however, extend the scope of hermeneutics to the understanding of all meaningful phenomena. What motivates Truth and Method? Gadamer writes in an autobiographical sketch that in the political and spiritual chaos following the German defeat in 1918, he and his fellow students had no time for the 'bloodless academic philosophizing' of the dominant Neo-Kantian school. Gadamer begins the process of trying to say what kind of thing an artwork is in a surprising place: he starts talking about sport, or 'play' which at first sight seems completely irrelevant to the topic of art.
