Traces of sedimentation in Gadamer

Gadamer, though rarely discussed in connection with sedimentation, is a key thinker on the topic within the phenomenological tradition. Sedimentation refers to what is deposited in consciousness, shaping it without full awareness. In Gadamer's work, this appears as the immemorial in consciousness, especially through the subterranean work of history in effective history (Wirkungsgeschichte). This yields a consciousness more affected by history than aware of its own sedimentations—more 'Being than consciousness.' Prejudices, traditions, and inherited language determine us more than conscious judgments, revealing that dialogue and language are always more inherited than created.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Gadamer rarely spoke of sedimentation and is not known as a philosopher who had much to say about the issue. This article would like to make the case that he is an important thinker of sedimentation and one who stands, in this regard as in others, in the best tradition of phenomenology. If one understands by sedimentation what is “deposited” in consciousness and determines it, but of which it is not always aware of, nor can become fully conscious of, one does find in Gadamer’s thinking quite a few instances of what could also be called the immemorial in consciousness. One has to think here first of the subterranean work of history in the Wirkungsgeschichte which culminates in a conception of consciousness which is affected by this “effective history,” a consciousness of which Gadamer says that it is more “Being than consciousness,” i.e., more sedimented than conscious of its sedimentations. This sedimented influence of history on consciousness operates through the prejudices and traditions that determine us and that say more about us than our conscious judgements. Ultimately, this sedimentation is at work in the language that we speak and the dialogue that we are which are always more inherited than they are created by consciousness.