An Improbable Dialogue: Metaphysics and Understanding

In this thesis I explore a famous encounter between Jacques Derrida and Hans-Georg Gadamer. The point is not, however, to offer a balanced comparison of deconstruction and hermeneutics. Rather, I want to show how the very different positions of these two approaches with respect to the Western metaphysical tradition become evident in that encounter. My hypothesis is that Derrida’s overt resistance to what Gadamer terms dialogue, is designed to bring into the open the way hermeneutic philosophy remains captive to logocentrism and to the decidability of interpretation. The aim of this thesis is not to find flaws and criticize metaphysical assumptions in our understanding, or to find an alternate for an epistemology, but to make ourselves consciously aware of our entrapment in logocentrism of metaphysics.