Laisser s'imposer l'être : appartenance et métaphysique des transcendantaux dans Vérité et méthode de H.-G. Gadamer

Does Gadamer’s hermeneutics follow Heidegger’s criticism of metaphysics and the attempt to overcome it ? Should we, furthermore, consider hermeneutics as a form of nihilism which reduces being to language and the plurality of interpretations ? This study will show, following Gadamer’s own indications, that it is imperative to recognize a definitive and crucial influence of metaphysics in his magnum opus, which consists precisely in its opposition to nihilistic and nominalistic interpretations of our relation to being. In order to do that, it will be established, first, that the concept of belongingness (Zugehörigkeit) is Truth and Method’s fundamental concept, as Ricoeur has already suggested, and then how Gadamer explicitly understands it in the light of the medieval metaphysics of the transcendantals, a metaphysics that is still visible in the book’s last conclusions which deal with the metaphysics of light (Lichtmetaphysik). We will see that it is precisely in the light of this constant proximity of the metaphysics of the transcendantals that we must understand Gadamer’s thesis stating that being that can be understood is language, in order to see it as an affirmation of the intelligibility of being, as Heidegger has already perceived.  Our intention is thus to unveil the sources and the framework of this metaphysics of the transcendantals, that have not yet received the much needed attention they deserve in Gadamerian studies. We will take a deep look into the medieval sources that Gadamer knows and comments upon, especially Thomas Aquinas and Nicolas of Cusa, but also into lesser known authors such as Philip the Chancellor, who is indispensable in a discussion about the metaphysics of the transcendantals. This inquiry will thus establish that Gadamer’s hermeneutics must be understood as deeply indebted to the classic conception of truth as adaequatio rei et intellectus, a definition that is mostly Thomas’ legacy but that the moderns also adopted, including Kant and Heidegger. One of the main results of this archeology of the metaphysical sources of the concept of belongingness will be a new reading of Gadamer’s relationship to his teacher Heidegger ; it will be shown that Gadamer’s legacy must be understood, following his own affirmations, as standing in the continuity of, and not as a break from metaphysics. Finally, true to the hermeneutic spririt of application, we will bring this renewed understanding of belongingness to bear on a more theological discussion, in order to shed a new light on the benefits that Gadamerian hermeneutics can bring to modern theology. The concept of faith, usually understood in the framework imposed by the metaphysics of subjectivity that reduces it to a « belief » or a « personal choice » will thus be read here in the light of the ontological turn of hermeneutics that wishes to overcome the dichotomy between the subject and its object by starting with being in order to think the subject. It is an understanding of faith as belongingness, in the precise meaning that Gadamer gives to his fundamental concept that will be brought to light here.

Keyphrases: Gadamer, Zugehörigkeit, Truth And Method, Hermeneutics, Belongingness, Metaphysics, Transcendantals, Thomas Aquinas, Nominalism, Theology, Faith, Adaequatio rei et intellectus