Now online a new article for the Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology by Chun Lin (University of Padua).
Chun Lin – “From a Less-Authentic Experience to an Authentic Experience: Gadamer’s Changed Concept of the Symbol”
JBSP (Received 18 Mar 2024, Accepted 06 May 2024, Published online: 13 May 2024).
Abstract: This paper provides an explanation for Gadamer’s inconsistent ideas of the symbol in his works, arguing that his concept of the symbol has evolved from a less-authentic experience to an authentic experience. In Truth and Method, the symbol is defined as having an instituted meaning and substitution function, and is devalued as a pure appearance of the real, which is less authentic than the artistic presentation that occasions the coming-into-existence events of the real. Later, in “The Relevance of the Beautiful”, Gadamer elevates the symbol to the same status as the work of art, and uses it to defend the work of art’s inexhaustibility and irreplaceability in communicating meanings and revealing truth. Gadamer’s changed concept of the symbol also serves to justify the universality of philosophical hermeneutics in addressing modern art-related issues, particularly those involving the speechlessness, definition, and technological reproductions of art.
Full article: https://doi.org/10.1080/00071773.2024.2353606
Chun Lin, Department of Philosophy, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
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