BIOGRAPHY:

• Hans-Georg Gadamer, born Feb. 11, 1900 in Marburg, Germany, is best known for his important contribution to hermeneutics through his major work, Wahrheit und Methode (Truth and Method).

• His system of philosophical hermeneutics is a response, through an exploration of historicity, language, and art, to Wilhelm Dilthey, Edmund Husserl, and Martin Heidegger. As Gadamer himself tells us--  

• Gadamer is the son of a chemistry professor (who had hopes of Gadamer following in his footsteps). In 1918, he began his university studies at Breslau, moving on to Marburg in 1919 where he earned his first doctorate at the age of 22 under the Plato scholar, Paul Natorp. During this time, he also "stood under the influence" of Nicolai Hartmann. 

• After meeting Martin Heidegger in 1923, he served as Heidegger's assistant while continuing course work in philosophy and philology. In 1928 he completed a second doctorate (again on Plato) under Heidegger's direction. He remained in Marburg as a Privatdozent [part-time member with little salary] teaching classical philosophy until he got his call to Kiel.  After a brief stint at Kiel (1934-35), he returned to Marburg where he was honored as "extraordinary professor" in 1937. 

• Upon retirement he was invited to spend semesters in residence at major universities in the United States including Vanderbilt, Catholic University of America, University of Dallas, Boston College, as well as McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario,Canada. During the decades after his retirement he has continued, until recently, to lecture widely in the United States, Canada, and other countries.