1001Philosophers

Hans-Georg Gadamer Quotes

Hans-Georg Gadamer was a German philosopher and the founder of philosophical hermeneutics. A student of Husserl and Heidegger, he taught at Leipzig, Frankfurt, and Heidelberg, where his Truth and Method, published when he was sixty, became one of the major works of twentieth-century continental philosophy. The quotes below are attributed to Hans-Georg Gadamer, organized by topic.

Hans-Georg Gadamer on Knowledge

  • Attributed to Hans-Georg Gadamer:

    “All understanding is interpretation.”

  • Attributed to Hans-Georg Gadamer:

    “Language is the medium in which substantive understanding and agreement take place between two people.”

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Hans-Georg Gadamer on Mind

  • Attributed to Hans-Georg Gadamer:

    “It is not so much our judgments as our prejudices that constitute our being.”

  • Attributed to Hans-Georg Gadamer:

    “Understanding is always more than merely re-creating someone else's meaning.”

Hans-Georg Gadamer on Truth

  • Attributed to Hans-Georg Gadamer:

    “Prejudices are not necessarily unjustified and erroneous, so that they inevitably distort the truth.”

  • Attributed to Hans-Georg Gadamer:

    “The real being of language is what is said in it.”

Read all Hans-Georg Gadamer quotes on Truth