Kierkegaardian “Simultaneities” in H.-G. Gadamer’s thinking

This paper intends to show the presence and strength of Kierkegaard’s thinking in Hans-Georg Gadamer’s work. Although Kierkegaard is not the philosopher most often (explicitly) quoted by Gadamer, the article tries to justify the proposal that the very creation of a philosophical hermeneutics is based on Kierkegaard’s philosophy. It does so by describing the philosophical horizon of the reception of Kierkegaard in Germany and indicating the paths of his philosophy until it was taken up by Gadamer. It then discusses quotations of Kierkegaard by Gadamer, mainly in Truth and Method I and II, and takes up Kierkegaardian themes, problems and concepts that inform Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics at three different “levels” of knowledge: aestheticreligious, ethical and epistemic-ontological. Key words: simultaneity, factualness, existence, hermeneutics.