German philosopher who was a pupil of Heidegger and the leading modern exponent of hermeneutics. We understand utterances, texts, people, works of art, and historical events. Earlier hermeneuticists attempted to refine a methodology for the proper interpretation of such entities. But they failed to grasp that their own understanding of an object, and the methodological principles they devised, were historically conditioned.
Cultures change over history.
His understanding thus involves an interplay between past and present, a 'fusion of horizons'. We cannot decide which of these interpretations is correct, since any verdict we give is historically conditioned and liable to revision by a later age. Thus we should explore our own pre-understanding and all the relations to the world and to history that it involves. Our understanding of the past and its remains not only depends on, but also promotes, our 'self-understanding'. His central concern is the experience of art, rather than our judgements about art or the intentions and genius of the artist, and he tries to describe it as accurately as possible.