#booktok #philosophy #literature #literarytheory #hermeneutics #heidegger #gadamer Professor Timothy H. Wilson Department of English, University of Ottawa ENG 3375 -- Contemporary Literary Theory Week 9 An introduction to Gadamer’s important contributions to Hermeneutic theory in his landmark work, Truth and Method. The lecture begins with his critique of “aesthetic consciousness”. The lecture then discusses Gadamer’s articulation of the nature of historical understanding. Gadamer builds on Heidegger’s notion of the forestructure of understanding to assert that there is no presuppositionless interpretation. We will always approach the past with our own prejudices. This places Gadamer within the “Third Wave of Modernity” according to Leo Strauss. The “Hermeneutic Circle” as understood by Gadamer is discussed. The nature of “effective history” and the primacy of application in hermeneutics is also discussed. Finally, the lecture summarizes the debates Gadamer would have with three other figures: Leo Strauss, E.D. Hirsch, and Jacques Derrida. Powerpoint slides for this lecture: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1K5-RQfG-vdNsQ3h8c7d9UzLIlYhaK-R8/view?usp=sharing Course Web site: https://sites.google.com/site/untergehenproject/courses/contemporary-literary-theory-2025-26 0:00 - Introduction 4:50 - Critique of Aesthetic Consciousness 8:15 - Critique of Historical Understanding 16:20 - The Hermeneutic Circle / Fusion of Horizons; Example of reading Alexander Pope's An Essay on Man 28:07 - Debates with Gadamer: Leo Strauss, E.D. Hirsch, Jacques Derrida Related Videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4J2CRuS0ubc&t=181s (Literary Theory) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHwZl6kC5zs&list=PLVnV4NOfHN4V5cobHCvVQWiH63dR5z6Ml&index=2&pp=iAQBsAgC (History of Theory) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuU_CexrjHA&list=PLVnV4NOfHN4V5cobHCvVQWiH63dR5z6 Ml&index=9&pp=iAQBsAgC (Saussure) https://youtu.be/2RsoS2917N0?si=VMRO9pyG7s2bZx3 (LS and the Three Waves) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ux4EVsurjKE&list=PLVnV4NOfHN4WUnr4dTHgcsrH29_ZeTtNd&index=3&t=1564s&pp=iAQBsAgC (Second Wave) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93Ok4Dc0154 (Marx) https://youtu.be/gQ_0v8CRlhQ?si=LkVlc8AqaGmiaFSj (Hermeneutics) https://youtu.be/STrXSANPWE8?si=IJsxP_bUzbFqY95b (Heidegger) https://youtu.be/XAN7TqBZIh4?si=TFFzhcZorviLv8yT (Heidegger, Destruktion) https://youtu.be/LAAHbV-9UWc?si=0QSjjIAdifTW8Ijb (Esotericism) Detailed Lecture Notes on Heidegger: Martin Heidegger (1889-1976): An Introduction: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZMYrICl7XGkd_hX1f336jah-_D2J2rFb/view?usp=sharing Heidegger's Being and Time (1927): An Introduction: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-EvkUjrQfGa6nQnxjs-G2zZvO2cjtd1s/view?usp=drive_link Martin Heidegger on Modern Science: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-ehWDYDras8WipX-M7wmqMECTL6Y7MKX/view?usp=drive_link Heidegger’s “On the Essence of Truth”: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qHEpxxur5_z3DiWGuBnDr1Eg8OAKhstn/view?usp=sharing Heidegger’s “The Origin of the Work of Art”: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QwroB0lanYa3rD-Pwu2H20zh9Ri1sJ7X/view?usp=sharing Heidegger’s Deconstruction of Plato: “Plato’s Doctrine of Truth”: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1o4Y2t0c42OXicT0E564nlW5BSTo22ObS/view?usp=sharing Heidegger’s “The Question Concerning Technology”: https://drive.google.com/file/d/186CKil0U8y-R7FqXRmwCh_lb87VjAhsb/view?usp=drive_link