Tradition as the Origin of Reason

The present paper examines Gadamer’s account of tradition and the relationship between reason and tradition. At first, with reference to the etymological meaning of tradition, the three definitions of tradition (anthropological, theological and traditionalistic) are presented and compared and finally Gadamer’s definition of the words is given. Trying to revive tradition, Gadamer begin with an explanation of the relationship between reason and tradition with an analysis of Romanticism’s and Enlightenment’s approaches to tradition and reason. While the Enlightenemnt philosophers put tradition against reason and in this way discredit tradition, Romanticism philosophers, despite their confirmation of the contrast between tradition and reason, overreact to this position by rejecting reason in favor of tradition. However, a lot of philosophers including Michael Oakeshott, Edmund Burke, Friedrich August von Hayek and Gadamer seriously have rejected this account of the relationship between tradition and reason which separates these two spheres of reason. These philosophers think that the relationship between tradition and reason is so complicated that we cannot put them in clear contrast. Tradition is not an obstacle in the way of reason. In some respects it even supports reason. There is no reason without tradition.