ABSTRACT
Heidegger's analysis of the existential structure of Dasein has mainly been referred to in respect of the transcendental interpretation of understanding. Understanding, as an existentiale, projects possibilities of human existence. This insight informed the formulation of the hermeneutic circle. It is this seminal development that provides the focus for the outline of Gadamer's hermeneutic philosophy, where the reflection upon scientific objectivity, the historicality of understanding and the role of language and tradition represent a further elaboration of Heidegger's insight. Before Gadamer published his magnum opus, Wahrheit und Methode, in 1960 the debate about existential understanding revolved largely around Bultmann's theological hermeneutic. In Bultmann's achievement, the demythologization of the New Testament, historical and philological interpretation is instrumental in determining the message it contains. The message may mean piercing through the mythical veil of cosmological-eschatological explanations which are no longer acceptable to modern man.
