Reflection on the Relationship between Gadamer's Philosophical Hermeneutics and Natural Science

Several criticisms have been made about Gadamer's position on the natural sciences. First of all, his conception of natural science is positivistic. Second, his image of natural science is caricatured and does not come to our day, and third, Gadamer does not disregard the hermeneutic nature of natural science. This paper will attempt to demonstrate that these criticisms are the result of focusing solely on Gadamer’s "Truth and Method" and disregarding Gadamer's approach to the natural sciences affected by the Husserl idea of crisis. Taking a collection of Gadamer's works into account, the hermeneutical nature of natural science is depicted. In the first step, it shows how Gadamer approach to natural sciences is shaped based on the gap between the “lifeworld” (lebenswelt) and the “scientific world”, and then in the second step, by showing the hermeneutical nature of natural science, linkage of science world into lifeworld is discussed. In other words, both Commonalities and differences between natural science and lifeworld are explored. Finally, it is concluded that the lifeworld has primacy over science world and science must be able to find its place in the lifeworld. Besides, by criticizing Gadamer's on natural science based on the collection of his work, the horizon of hermeneutics of natural science is explored.