Abstract

Gadamer’s attitude to the modern perspectivism is remarkably complex. On the one hand, according to Gadamer, we need to acknowledge that our knowledge and action are bound to a particular point of view. On the other hand,being inspired by Plato, Gadamer invites us to rely on the capacity of dialogue to overcome our partial views. When speaking of the “fusion of horizons”, he both acknowledges and transcends perspectivism. The article reconstructs his analysis of the relationship between perspectivism and dialogicity in two contexts: history and art. The author introduces a distinction between two different uses of perspective in Gadamer: the distinction between perspective as given and perspective as task, between the perspective we are and the perspective we create. If we stick to the second option, as Gadamer sometimes does,language (dialogue) can no longer be seen as a way of overcoming perspectives (as one reading of the “fusion of horizons” suggests), but as a way of creating perspectives.