ABSTRACT
Gadamer has been the viewed as follower, appropriator, and urbanizer of the wilder elements of Heidegger’s thought, with his explicit resistance to certain aspects of Heidegger’s thought often only present between the lines. This chapter examines Gadamer’s analyses of language and metaphysics, as well as Heidegger’s references to “the language of metaphysics,” in order to evaluate the more independent and critical elements of Gadamer’s relationship to his teacher. The chapter examines such themes as the dismantling of the “language of metaphysics,” the interdependent relation between concept and word, and the analysis of the poetic word. Finally, the idea of being at a “loss for words” or of “linguistic need” (Sprachnot) will be used as an interpretive entry point when it comes to understanding their respective approaches to the philosophical tradition and what divides and what unites both philosophers.
