Truth and Method: Hermeneutics or History?
Truth and Method: Hermeneutics or History?

Summary/Abstract: I argue in this paper that the ‘hermeneutics or history’ disjunct in its title is indeed exclusive: we can opt for either the ‘art’ of hermeneutics or the ‘science’ of history—but not both. Should we attempt to choose both, we default automatically to hermeneutics. I argue that two central features of the overall argument of Truth and Method pose a serious threat to the very concept of historical research. First is its view of the essentially methodical character of all science, including ‘historical science’, and second is the essentially ‘phenomenological’ method that Gadamer purports to be employing throughout his book.

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