Nietzsche and Gadamer on Truth and Interpretation

Abstract

At the first glance, Nietzsche does not appear in the Gadamerian text as a crucial figure. Nonetheless, a careful reading will dissipate this first impression. Gadamer mentions Nietzsche on several occasions, and two of them are extremely significant. The first occasion is Gadamer’s dialogue with Derrida; the second is Gadamer’s interpretation of Thus Spoke Zarathustra. The latter is noteworthy insofar as it shows how Gadamer develops a hermeneutical reading of an enormously complicated book. The first is even more significant insofar as it concerns the concept of hermeneutics: to distinguish hermeneutics from a deconstructive reading, Gadamer and Derrida resort to Nietzsche as the key figure. The aim of this paper is to examine the question of truth and interpretation in Nietzsche’s and Gadamer’s respective philosophies, their differences and similarities.