Pathos and Rationality in Gadamer’s Hermeneutics

Abstract

This paper analyzes the concept of páthos as the foundation of philosophical rationality, from its formulation in ancient philosophy to its reformulation in the hermeneutics of Hans-Georg Gadamer. Far from conceiving páthos as a merely emotional or passive dimension, the paper shows that in Greek thought it constitutes an ontological and epistemic condition of knowledge: the original way in which human beings open themselves to the world and are affected by it. From the Presocratics onward, and especially in Socratic-Platonic and Aristotelian dialectic, knowledge appears as a process that integrates affection, dialogue, and transformation. In continuity with this tradition, Gadamerian hermeneutics redefines modern rationality by shifting the center of knowledge from method to the experience of understanding. To understand does not mean to dominate an object, but to participate in a historical-linguistic event in which the interpreter recognizes themselves as affected by tradition and language. The guiding hypothesis of this paper is that Gadamer’s hermeneutics rehabilitates páthos as a condition of possibility for a dialogical and situated rationality. Within this framework, rational páthos designates the manner in which truth occurs through openness to meaning, restoring the experiential and transformative character of philosophizing.