Ethical presupposition of otherness in philosophical hermeneutics in the light of Plato’s sophist

Abstract

Gadamer’s philosophical theory involves the proposition of philosophical hermeneutics as an ethical project. Although the author have not approached this relationship in a systematic way, we propose to explain and deepen the notion of otherness as a fundamental ethical presupposition of Gadamer’s hermeneutics in the light of Plato’s Sophist. Therefore, in the first section, we will discuss the structure and forms of interaction of the concept of othernessas presented by Plato, in the Sophist, which deals with aspects of identity, difference, coexistence of selfand otheras metaphysical principles. In a second moment, we will propose a possible perception of the appropriation of Gadamer with respect to the Platonic concepts that dialogue with each other through dialectic from the modern subjectivity. In this way, we will justify the fundamental traits of hermeneutical ethics are based on non-self-excluding principles, since it does not require the assumption of the other as a condition for the formation and maintenance of identity. Finally, we will return to the hypothesis that the other hermeneuticusis as important as the I hermeneuticus for the understanding of itself and of the world, in a co-relation that does not deny different ways of being to affirm itself with significant personal and socio-political implications