Gadamer

Hans-Georg Gadamer is one of the leading philosophers in the world today. His philosophical hermeneutics has had a major impact in a wide range of disciplines, including the social sciences, literary criticism, theology and jurisprudence. Truth and Method, his major work, is widely recognised to be one of the great classics of twentieth-century thought.

In this book Georgia Warnke provides a clear and systematic exposition of Gadamer's work, as well as a balanced and thoughtful assessment of his views. Warnke gives particular attention to the ways in which Gadamer's work has been taken up and criticised by literary critics, social theorists and philosophers, such as Hirsch, Habermas and Rorty. She thus provides an introduction to Gadamer which demonstrates the relevance of his work to current debates in a variety of disciplines.

This book will be invaluable to students and specialists throughout the humanities and social sciences, as well as to anyone who is interested in the most important developments in contemporary thought.

1. HERMENEUTICS AND HISTORY: Critique of Romantic Hermeneutics; The Phenomenological Turn.

2. HERMENEUTICS AND AUTHORIAL INTENTIONL: Hirsch's Intentionalism; The Structure of Game-Playing; Mimesis; Understanding as Participation.

3. HERMENEU TICS AND THE PROBLEM OF SUBJECTIVISM: The Rehabilitation of Prejudice and Tradition; The Anticipation of Completeness; Understanding and Application; The Dialogic Structure of Understanding.

4. HERMENEUT ICS AND THE CRITIQUE OF IDEOLOGY: Habermas's Review of Truth and Method; Apel's Critique of Hermeneutics; Habermas's Second Response to Gadamer; Unconstrained Communication; Gadamer's Conservatism.

5. HERMENEUT ICS AND THE `NEW PRAGMATISM': Rorty's New Unity of Science; Rorty's Critique of Epistemology; Rorty's Irrationalism; `Bildung' and Practical Reason.

6. CONCLUSION.

Notes.

'A rich, multifaceted book' The Year's Work in English Studies

Georgia Warnke is a Distinguished Professor of Political Science and the Director of the Center for Ideas & Society at the University of California, Riverside. She chaired the Department from 2002 to 2004. Hans-Georg Gadamer is one of the leading philosophers in the world today. His philosophical hermeneutics has had a major impact in a wide range of disciplines, including the social sciences, literary criticism, theology and jurisprudence. Truth and Method, his major work, is widely recognised to be one of the great classics of twentieth-century thought.

In this book Georgia Warnke provides a clear and systematic exposition of Gadamer's work, as well as a balanced and thoughtful assessment of his views. Warnke gives particular attention to the ways in which Gadamer's work has been taken up and criticised by literary critics, social theorists and philosophers, such as Hirsch, Habermas and Rorty. She thus provides an introduction to Gadamer which demonstrates the relevance of his work to current debates in a variety of disciplines.

This book will be invaluable to students and specialists throughout the humanities and social sciences, as well as to anyone who is interested in the most important developments in contemporary thought.