An Inquiry Into The Hermeneutic Significance Of Gadamer's Ethics

Gadamer's hermeneutics is a philosophy as a whole, so to inquiry his ethics is to inquiry hermeneutical ethics or hermeneutical meaning of ethics in fact, which involves necessarily connection between ethics and hermeneutics. For him, ethics in fact is element of structure of his ontological hermeneutics, so our researchs in fact are to inquiry question about hermeneutical structure. Gadamer achieved his turning, namely, hermeneutics turned into ontological hermeneutics by language as medium. Our research about hermeneutical structure is becoming to inquiry Gadamer's metaphysical structure or metaphysical structure of hermeneutics. So, we can distinguish Gadamer's thoughts from Heidegger's thoughts, which will give prominence to creativity of Gadamer's philosophy.First, this dissertation observes generally ethical difficulties and ways by Gadamer's hermeneutical analysis. We generalize these difficulties as some oppositions, as follows, philosophical ethics and applied ethics, ontological ethics and ethics of value, ethic knowledge and ethic action, reflection of ethics and ethos, which turn into opposition between truth and method finally. Our purpose is that we can suspend various regulations about ethics by this generalization so that we can face to original ethics or ethos directly. So, we can find basis of researching hermeneutical ethics, that is, possibility of ontological hermeneutical or philosophical ethics. At the same time, this provides the range of questions that we need to figure out for our inquiring hermeneutical ethics.As to original ethics, Socratic philosophy comes into our lines of investigation. Gadamer found that Plato had finished this philosophical process about turning Socratic philosophy into logos philosophy, and Aristotle had continued this process and had pointed out coexistence between logos and ethos(original ethics), in the course of researching two Socratic propositions that are "know yourself" and "virtue is knowledge". Original ethics is knowledge about "know yourself" in fact. This knowledge realize itself only in logos (word, speech). On Gadamer's viewpoints, this philosophical line extends Hegelian philosophy. Hegelian self-conscious and Reason or Absolute is in itself extension of Greek logos-nous philosophical structure. Aristotle's moving cause (efficient cause) is nous, and Plato's cause or reason is nous in Philebus. So, the traditional metaphysics that Gadamer understood have preparatory structure itself, that is, the form of logos-nous-ethos. It is evident that this metaphysical form is different from Heidegger's judgment that Heidegger thought western traditional metaphysics as onto-theo-logic structure. Of course, it is true that Hegelian logics as logos bring Gadamer some questions. Logos as word or speech is natural language, namely, spoken language, not Hegelian logical system of concepts or abstract language. Hegelian dialectics of abstract language is one of questions that Gadamer needs to conquer. So, we can understand Gadamer's ontological shift of hermeneutics guided by language. The inherent structure of language comes into meaning-word structure in ontological hermeneutics, and dialectics becomes the logic dialectics of question and answer. Meaning-word structure means logos-nous structure from Greek. Ethos or existence turns into "facticity" of Heidegger's hermeneutics of facticity and "things" of "things themselves" of phenomenology. It is possible that Gadamer's metaphysics as philosophical hermeneutics has formal or logic structure, that is, logos-nous-ethos structure.To inquiry Gadamer's constructing metaphysical structure in essence or reality, further, we need to research meaning of Being itself of ontology, essence of ethos and its goal Good, essence of dialectics of dialogue and their connection, and so on. This dissertation discloses that fundamental difference between Aristotle and Plato is connection between Good and practical good by analyzing Aristotle's critique about Plato's idea and idea of Good. Gadamer went along their philosophy by intentional analysis, and finally thought that their philosophy is identical in the connection between metaphysics and practical philosophy, that is, metaphysics need to realize itself in practical philosophy. Gadamer resolved their difference by Plato's uppermost knowledge viz. dialectics. Further more, to understand Plato'philosophy consists in fundamental opposition between Gadamer and Heidegger. Further, Gadamer's phenomenological analyzing Plato's Philebus argues inner unification of basic structure between Being and Good, and points out that dialectics is ethics. In terms of argument, ethos as self-conduct coexists not only logos, but also further is origin of genesis of Being. Ethos is original ethics in essence, rather, dialectics is ethics, because it has same ability with phronesis (practical reason) of ethos, dialectic knowledge is ethic knowledge. And that disclosure of Being and doing good can come into being only in self-moving of ethos. So, we achieve finally hermeneutical metaphysical structure of Gadamer, that is, logos-nous-ethos as a unity. This unity is in fact a combination between metaphysics of light and metaphysics of Good, and it comes into being uniform structure of language and ethics in Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics, which unfolds hermeneutical meaning of ethics.Gadamer's hermeneutics as practical philosophy has fundament, because hermeneutics is hermeneutics of facticity as ethos, and it is a combination of metaphysics and practical philosophy. Practical reason makes hermeneutics relating to model of structure of traditional practical philosophy, but hermeneutics as practical philosophy is different from traditional practical philosophy fundamentally. Gadamer alternated a kind of combine of Kant's formalism and Aristotle's ethics about virtues. This hermeneutics as practical philosophy is basic model of human sciences for Gadamer. Of course, hermeneutics as practical philosophy confronts necessarily ethos of world nowadays. Gadamer analyzed current society, and thought that current praxis is self-dissimilating praxis, and to renew Greek friendship is only way to come to human coexistence in the world, that is, self-conduct in solidarity based on friendship. In the end, as Chinese scholars, we need to consider Chinese ethos in the condition of globalizing. We don't want to put forward a fit kind of "Chinese model", but expect that practical model of Chinese philosophy can get to renew. We pose political philosophy about friendship, but that is just idealist ideal.