Gadamer: Pragmatist or Opportunist?

Hans-Georg Gadamer was one of the most important philosophers of the 20th century, influencing many students and readers around the world. He is also one of the most controversial because there are good arguments to consider that he engaged is blatant opportunism, working with the repressive Nazi and later Communist governments in Germany for the sake of his career and own personal safety.

There are philosophers lined up on both sides of the debate - but who is right? We may never know because the evidence is not unequivocal for either position. The likelihood that he did pursue opportunism rather than simply pragmatism, however, is quite strong:

Mr. Wolin’s thesis is that Gadamer, by claiming the mantle of disinterested scholar-teacher who never bothered himself with the rough-and-tumble of politics, escaped some hard questions about his conduct. The notion of “inner emigration” among German academics (the claim to have gone into spiritual exile amid all the turmoil) is a specious alibi, he says. Mr. Wolin cites recent work by historians that the Nazis in fact cultivated the support -- but not the party membership -- of “apolitical” professors such as Gadamer.

Their aura of high culture lent legitimacy to the regime. Besides which, they were essential to the smooth functioning of the educational system; storm troopers might be useful on the battlefield, but not in university administration. “In Gadamer’s case, though he wasn’t a Nazi, he willfully played along with the regime, which, practically speaking, was in many ways just as bad,” says Mr. Wolin. “Subtract the tacit support of the Gadamers of the world, and Hitler and company would never have made it.”

Do important intellectuals and philosophers like Gadamer have a moral and intellectual obligation to stand up to evil governments and give voice to their opposition, or is it legitimate for them to be “apolitical” and stay out of the fray? I would say that they have an obligation to speak out against problems and evils in society — and that if they don’t, then they don’t deserve their positions of respect and authority.

 

Read More:

• Hans-Georg Gadamer
• Guide to Ethics and Morality
• Ethics and Culture