Of course, that is the question of modernity. How do we, in the face of undesirable change, return to a simpler and truer time?

Tolkien maintains that we never really can return. His characters say over and over that a new Age is dawning, that Middle-Earth will never be the same again.

This is an important and difficult question for people like me, especially, who would like to see a lot of the past three or four centuries (if not more) repudiated and must resist the temptation to turn romantic and simply turn back the clock. Though certain ages ought be overcome, they must be recognized as having existed and as having influenced current understandings of existence. It is a difficult task to achieve a new synthesis, because of the detached way people have learned to view their own times (see my post on VH-1 and the 80s), but it must be done.

With all this in mind I started Truth and Method today. Gadamer seeks to answer these hermeneutic questions of historical consciousness and a understanding in and of time. It should be tough to follow, but it should be fun. I have been thinking about these questions for a long time now, and I found that I lacked the philosophical vocabulary to prode deeply enough, so hopefully Gadamer will be of service.