Here are the major statements of the leading figures in the nineteenth- and twentieth-century German and French hermeneutic traditions--the major statements on the aims, methods, and techniques of interpretation. Some of these appear here for the first time in English. This book establishes the context for contemporary analyses of interpretation. Part I traces the evolution of hermeneutics from Friedrich Ast and Friedrich Schleiermacher through Wilhelm Dilthey to Martin Heidegger's placing of hermeneutics at the center of the ontological analysis of human being. Part II follows the development of the Heideggerian tradition in the writings of Hans-Georg Gadamer. Gadamer's "philosophical hermeneutics" is then located at the center of several important exchanges with more traditional, objective hermeneutical methodologists like Emilio Betti, ideology-critics like Jürgen Habermas, and linguistic-phenomenological thinkers like Paul Ricoeur.

This volume explores the connections between John McDowell’s philosophy and the hermeneutic tradition. The contributions not only explore the hermeneutical aspects of McDowell’s thought but also ask how this reading of McDowell can inform the hermeneutical tradition itself. John McDowell has made important contributions to debates in epistemology, metaethics, and philosophy of language, and his readings of Aristotle, Kant, Hegel, and Wittgenstein have proved widely infl uential. While there are instances in which McDowell draws upon the work of hermeneutic thinkers, the hermeneutic strand of McDowell’s philosophy has not yet been systematically explored in depth. The chapters in this volume open up a space in which to read McDowell himself as a hermeneutic thinker. They address several research questions: How can McDowell’s recourse to the hermeneutical tradition be understood in detail? Besides Gadamer, does McDowell’s work implicitly convey and advance motives from other seminal fi gures of this tradition, such as Heidegger and Dilthey? Are there aspects of McDowell’s position that can be enhanced through a juxtaposition with central hermeneutic concepts like World, Tradition, and Understanding? Are there further, perhaps yet unexplored aspects of McDowell’s infl uences that ought to be interpreted as expressing hermeneutic ideas? McDowell and the Hermeneutic Tradition will appeal to researchers and advanced students working in American philosophy, Continental philosophy, hermeneutics, history of philosophy, philosophy of language, and epistemology.

This book presents contemporary analyses of interpretation by some of the most prominent figures in contemporary philosophy and literary criticism. These essays question and transform traditional statements on the aims, methods, and techniques of interpretation. The essays demonstrate how contemporary discussions of interpretation are necessarily sent back to the hermeneutic tradition. Emphasizing the importance of Friedrich Nietzsche's influence on the contemporary debates concerning current interpretive practices, this volume traces the differences in interpretive perspectives generated in the writings of Michel Foucault, Eric Blondel, Julia Kristeva, Jacques Derrida, Manfred Frank, Werner Hamacher, and Jean-Luc Nancy. The essays by Foucault, Blondel, Frank, Hamacher, and Nancy appear here for the first time in English.

The Series: Studies in African Philosophy is a forum for the publication and wider dissemination of researches and reflections of value on all aspects of African philosophy. While recognising the special advantage of interdisciplinary approach in modern scholarship, it retains a special predilection for works that have special African philosophic import. Although Theophilus Okere's book African Philosophy has made remarkable impact on African philosophical scholarship, many may not be aware of the way he tried to apply his preferred method to other areas of the philosophical investigation in Africa and to overcome the risk of relativism through the promotion of intercultural dialogue in philosophy. The essays published in this volume bear testimony to the multivalent character of Okere's contribution to African philosophy. Most of the essays are about Okere's hermeneutics of culture. Some of the authors examine the method in itself, while others focus attention on its application to specific philosophical themes. Book jacket.

Courses in management research have traditionally focused on quantitative techniques, and no available text adequately covers the many different perspectives within the qualitative model or shows which qualitative techniques work best in different settings. "Crafting Qualitative Research" fills this need. In clear and readable prose, this comprehensive text offers a detailed guide to the rich diversity of qualitative research traditions, with examples and applications specifically designed for the field of management. Each of the book's four main sections includes a descriptive "tree" diagram that lays out the historical origins of that section's traditions. Each chapter is devoted to a specific methodology and includes historical origins and development; techniques and applications; current controversies and emerging issues; and a summary box highlighting that method's utility. With its detailed and easy-to-understand coverage, this will be the text of choice for any instructor who wants to include the qualitative approach in a research methods course, as well as a useful resource for anyone doing research in the post-positivist traditions.

New hermeneutical challenges abound within the process of globalisation especially as they pertain to culture and religion. Consequently, a new form of hermeneutics approached from an intercultural perspective is needed. This requires, if not a new set of hermeneutical tools then, at least, a serious, profound and critical analysis and constructive adaptation of the already available set of hermeneutical tools. Intercultural hermeneutics in the understanding of religion and culture and among cultures and religions is being proposed here as this new form of art or science of understanding. Chibueze C. Udeani is of Igbo origin and currently professor of missiology and dialogue of religions at Julius Maximilian's university Würzburg, Germany.

This book focuses on the problematic issues arising when translating and interpreting classical Arabic texts, which represent a challenging business for many scholars, especially with regards to religious texts. Additionally, the reception of these interpretations and translations not only informs the perception of Muslims and their awareness of the outside world, but also impacts the vision and perception of non-Muslims of Islam and the Muslim world. Consequently, this book reconsiders the concepts of understanding and interpretation, and their nexus in the mechanism of translation, and proposes a novel, hermeneutic method of translating, interpreting, and understanding traditional and classical Arab texts. Handling the issues of understanding from a hermeneutical perspective is shown here to remove the possibility of translation and interpretation rendering a distorted translated text. Drawing on the powerful interpretive theories of Hans-Georg Gadamer and Martin Heidegger, the hermeneutic method of translation starts from a premise that the meaning of a classical text cannot be deduced solely by linguistic analysis of its words, but requires in-depth investigation of the invisible, contextual elements that control and shape its meaning. Traditional texts are seen in this model as ‘travelling texts’ whose meaning is transformed across time and space. The hermeneutic method of translation allows the translator to identify those elements from the real-world that informed a classical text at the time of its writing, so that it can be adapted and made relevant to its contemporary context. Traditional texts can enlighten our minds and cultivate our souls; religious texts can elevate our behavior and thinking, and help refine our confused contemporary lives. When texts become isolated from their world, they lose this lofty goal of enlightenment and elevation.

Expanding Hermeneutics examines the development of interpretation theory, emphasizing how science in practice involves and implicates interpretive processes. Ihde argues that the sciences have developed a sophisticated visual hermeneutics that produces evidence by means of imaging, visual displays, and visualizations. From this vantage point, Ihde demonstrates how interpretation is built into technologies and instruments.

Schutzian Phenomenology and Hermeneutic Traditions links Alfred Schutz to the larger hermeneutic tradition in Continental thought, illuminating the deep affinity between Schutzian phenomenology and hermeneutics. The essays collected here explore a broad spectrum of Schutzian themes and concerns, from Schutz’s concrete affinities to hermeneutic traditions, his interpretationism and the pragmatist nature of Schutz’s thought, to questions concerning the role of the media and music in our understanding of the life-world and intersubjectivity. The essays go on to explore the practical applicability of Schutz’s thoughts on questions regarding economics, literature, ethics and the limits of human understanding. Given its emphasis on the application of Schutzian ideas and concepts, this book willbe of special interest to a wide range of readers in the social sciences and humanities, who are interested in the application of phenomenology to social, political, and cultural phenomena.

In Pentecostal Hermeneutics in the Late Modern World, L. William Oliverio, Jr. offers a series of forays into the places where late modernity and Pentecostalism have met in interpreting God, the world, and human selves and communities. Oliverio provides a historical, constructive, and ecumenical approach to understanding current trajectories in Pentecostal interpretation as he engages a variety of philosophers and theologians. Together, these essays point to a way forward for Pentecostal hermeneutics in the context of the late modern world.