What is it about?
Chung-ying Cheng has criticized the Western tradition of metaphysics because it does not have any fruitful bearing on practice. This judgement, however, depends on a concept of metaphysics that Gadamer overturns with a Pythagorean-Platonic ontology. When this side of his philosophy is developed in tandem with Cheng’s onto-generative hermeneutics, in particular, its doctrine of harmonization, new possibilities for self-understanding about the grounds of existence are charted: The event of Being emerges from the reciprocity of rhythm in a dialogue self-similar to the rhythms of nature grasped by Cheng in terms of yin and yang. This consolidates a cross-fertilization between Cheng and Gadamer on the trans-historical foundations of hermeneutics.
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Why is it important?
An earlier version of this paper interacts with arguments by Gadamer scholars Jean Grondin, Walter Lammi, and Andrzej Wierciński. In contrast to the American continentalists such as Dan Tate and at times, James Risser, their interpretations of Gadamer recall a dispositional recollection of a pre-linguistic ground of human existence. For this reason, they stand behind transhistorical foundations in hermeneutics. Andrew Fuyarchuk. “Revitalizing Western Metaphysics with Hermeneutics: Reading Gadamer in Light of Fundamental Themes in Chung-ying Cheng.” Ruchs Filozoficzny (Philosophical Movement) 76, no. 4 (2020): 207–237.
Perspectives
This article aligns with my work to recover metaphysics (or ontology) in hermeneutics based on the Pythagorean-Platonic doctrine of the one and the many in Gadamer. It stands for an immanent-transcendent or one-world view that coordinates with the foundations of Cheng's onto-generative hermeneutics. This insight into how to re-interpret historically-effected consciousness, would not have been possible without deploying East-West comparative philosophy.
Dr Andrew Fuyarchuk
Yorkville University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: A Philosophy of Constancy in Change: Reading Gadamer in Light of Fundamental Themes in Chung-Ying Cheng, Journal of Chinese Philosophy, January 2025, Brill,
DOI: 10.1163/15406253-12340139.
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