ABSTRACT
While this chapter is convinced of Gadamer's epistemological relevance, it clearly recognizes that to the extent that epistemological problems are of concern to Gadamer, he is committed to refashioning them and setting them on a new footing. What especially distinguishes the hermeneutic approach in this regard is the fact that a proffered claim is no more than provisionally asserted, in hypothetical fashion, as a basis for further inquiry, rather than as an assertion of the settled truth of the matter. Gadamer emphatically valorizes Platonic dialectic as the template for this situated, interrogative mode of inquiry. What this model exemplifies in particular is the indispensability of structured conversation, or dialogue, in advancing our understanding of the subject matter under investigation. In response to criticisms deriving from Gadamer's alleged 'conservatism', although by postmodern standards Gadamer may be hampered by a relatively univocal conception of tradition, he is by no means as unmindful of difference or otherness as critics typically contend.
