The Relation of Understanding, Language and Metaphor in Gadamer’s Thought

Articles in Press

Document Type : Original Article

Author

عضو هیأت علمی گروه فلسفه و حکمت اسلامی، دانشکده‌ی الهیات و معارف اسلامی، دانشگاه فردوسی مشهد.

10.22081/jti.2025.72407.1103

Abstract

In his ontological explanation of understanding, Gadamer, by raising the problem of dialogue between the interpreter and the text, paved the way for challenging issues such as relativism in cognition. In his view, the fusion of the temporal-linguistic horizons of the interpreter and the text could demonstrate the possibility of semantic multiplicity and the infinity of understanding. In this article, we attempt to examine the possibility of the metaphorical nature of understanding from another perspective, namely by focusing on the discussion of "metaphor", due to its importance in providing reasons for the possibility of semantic diversity and innovation in language. Although the theory of metaphor is one of the central topics of Ricoeur's philosophy, and Gadamer has not addressed the subject of metaphor much except for some references in explaining language; nevertheless, some commentators have used this theory to reinterpret understanding and the fusion of horizons. Therefore, we will analyze these interpretations, and, at the same time, by a descriptive-analytical method, and based on the relation of unity and tension between identity and difference within the structure of metaphor, try to substantiate the metaphorical characteristic of understanding, language, and the fusion of horizons and clarify the hermeneutical consequences of this view.

Keywords

Theosophia Islamica

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 11 August 2025

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