Hermeneutics is widely celebrated as a call for “conversation”—that is, a manner of inquiry characterized by humility and openness to the other that eschews the pretenses of calculative rationality and resists all finality of conclusions. In this, conversation takes shape in efforts to understand and interpret that always unfold in the transmission of meaning historically in language. Yet, the celebration of hermeneutics for humility and openness appears, at least, to risk embarrassment in light of claims found in Heidegger and Gadamer that conversation is always contingent on “prior accord.” Critics of hermeneutics have, for some decades, interpreted this claim of prior accord to refer to a common tradition, so that the understanding achieved in conversation is restricted to those who belong to the same heritage. In this essay, the author argues that although Heidegger and Gadamer often suggest this prior accord is a matter of common tradition, crucial threads of Gadamer’s thought, in particular, recommend a different view. Gadamer, in these threads, offers that “prior accord” concerns not a common tradition, but, on the contrary, the call to participate in hermeneutic transmission as such, even—and no doubt especially—when those in conversation are not familiar with the tradition or language of the other. With this, we are called to converse not first by what the other says, but by the fact that we do not yet understand, that we have already misunderstood, and that we perhaps cannot understand.

中文翻译：

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我们是对话吗？诠释学、外在性和可传递性

诠释学被广泛认为是对“对话”的呼吁——也就是说，一种以谦逊和对他人开放为特征的探究方式，它避开了计算理性的伪装，并抵制了所有结论的最终性。在这种情况下，对话在理解和解释的努力中形成，这总是在语言历史意义的传递中展开。然而，至少，鉴于海德格尔和伽达默尔认为对话总是取决于“事先一致”的说法，对谦逊和开放的诠释学的庆祝似乎冒着尴尬的风险。几十年来，诠释学的批评者一直将这种事先一致的主张解释为指共同的传统，因此在对话中获得的理解仅限于属于同一遗产的人。在这篇论文中，作者认为，尽管海德格尔和伽达默尔经常暗示这种先行一致是一个共同的传统问题，但伽达默尔思想的关键线索尤其推荐了不同的观点。伽达默尔在这些线索中提出，“事先一致”不涉及共同的传统，相反，涉及参与解释学传播本身的呼吁，即使——毫无疑问，尤其是——当谈话中的人不熟悉对方的传统或语言。有了这个，我们首先被要求交谈，不是因为对方说了什么，而是因为我们还不明白，我们已经误解了，我们可能无法理解。推荐一个不同的观点。伽达默尔在这些线索中提出，“事先一致”不涉及共同的传统，相反，涉及参与解释学传播本身的呼吁，即使——毫无疑问，尤其是——当谈话中的人不熟悉对方的传统或语言。有了这个，我们首先被要求交谈，不是因为对方说了什么，而是因为我们还不明白，我们已经误解了，我们可能无法理解。推荐一个不同的观点。伽达默尔在这些线索中提出，“事先一致”不涉及共同的传统，相反，涉及参与解释学传播本身的呼吁，即使——毫无疑问，尤其是——当谈话中的人不熟悉对方的传统或语言。有了这个，我们首先被要求交谈，不是因为对方说了什么，而是因为我们还不明白，我们已经误解了，我们可能无法理解。