Abstract

This essay compares Gadamer’s reflections on the humanities, programmatically outlined in his 1983 essay Die Zukunft der europäischen Geisteswissenschaften, with related ideas from Husserl, Valéry and Derrida. While Gadamer, Valéry and Derrida use Husserl’s Krisis-Fragments as a foil, they all distance themselves from Husserl’s pessimistic diagnosis of culture and science. Valéry does so in a critique of Europe, whereas Gadamer and Derrida offer more apologetic perspectives. On the the role, mission and mandate of the humanities, the authors remain notably vague. However, Gadamer and Derrida converge in their appreciation for the methodological strengths of the humanities – historical reinterpretation, critical reading, hermeneutic pluralism – which they regard as politically indispensable for “Europe.” Despite this shared perspective, Derrida frames his argument in ethical-political terms, while Gadamer adopts a science-oriented approach to define the role of philosophy.