Comments on “Critical Fusion: Toward a Genuine Hermeneutics of Suspicion” from L. Simpson’s Hermeneutics as Critique

Below are my comments from a recent book panel on Lorenzo Simpson’s excellent book,  Hermeneutics as Critique: Science, Politics, Race, and Culture, at the North American Society for Philosophical Hermeneutics. At the conference, I  presented only half of the comments, so I thought it might be helpful to present them in full here. Enjoy!  Cynthia R. NielsenHermeneutics as Critique | Columbia University Press

Introductory Comments

Lorenzo Simpson’s book, Hermeneutics as Critique: Science, Politics, Race, and Culture, brings philosophical hermeneutics to bear on important contemporary issues such as race that have not been particularly prominent in the hermeneutical tradition.

As he states in the Introduction, “I steer philosophical hermeneutics along paths that it does not typically tread. I aim to develop a philosophical hermeneutics with critical intent and seek thereby to demonstrate the ongoing relevance of hermeneutic approaches to matters far beyond the field of literary and textual analysis” (1). Likewise in the Introduction he outlines some of the key criticisms leveled against philosophical hermeneutics, focusing on two in particular. The first is the claim that hermeneutics is “unable to critically interrogate the status quo of a given tradition” due to its concern with understanding others within their own context and terms. The second is the charge that hermeneutics amounts to relativism given its emphasis on the contextuality of knowledge” (7). In fact, one of the broader goals of the book is to help to create ways of dialoguing that “would bridge the gap between a merely culturally bound interpretation and a respectful transcultural criticism” (x).

In his previous work, Simpson attempts to strike a balance between the need to “acknowledge social and cultural difference” and “to counter claims that differently situated persons and cultures are . . . ineliminably opaque to each other” (8). Thus, his focus has been to develop a position that responds to incommensurability by “defending a framework in which differences of cultural viewpoints can be interpreted and understood as different perspectives on the same range of issues” (8). In his present book, he develops what he calls “critical hermeneutics” or “hermeneutics as critique,” which supplements and advances a largely Gadamerian framework (8). In fact, in the Introduction, Simpson articulates three aspects of Gadamerian hermeneutics that animate his argument: “[1] the idea of a dialogically enabled and endorsed fusion of horizons; [2] the nature of concept formation; and [3] the hermeneutic centrality of the ‘dialectic of question and answer’” (4) Regarding the need to supplement Gadamer’s account, Simpson points to the Habermas-Gadamer debates of the 1960s and 70s, in which Habermas claimed that Gadamer’s hermeneutics was incapable of granting a “systematic distinction between an ideological regime and a nonideological one” (9) Even though in the course of their continued dialogue, Habermas moved closer to Gadamer on several points, Habermas remained critical of Gadamer’s “more situated and contextualized account” of knowledge. In defense of his position, Gadamer argued that his view of prejudices as the conditions for knowing did not entail that certain prejudices were “beyond criticism.” In fact, as Simpson observes, Gadamer allows for both legitimate and illegitimate prejudices and intimates that such a distinction “could serve as an effective stand in for ideology critique. Simpson grants this distinction but seeks to develop a more robust account of how it might be deployed for critical purposes such as the critique of ideology.

Simpson’s book also aims to address criticisms levelled at Gadamer’s statements about hermeneutics’ universality. For example, he describes his present work as “a contribution toward the redemption of Gadamer’s claim that hermeneutics is ‘a universal aspect of philosophy’ (10). Part of Simpson’s strategy is to show how a Gadamerian critical hermeneutics can be deployed not only in the realm of social critique but also in the realm of scientific investigations. (Chapter 1, which I will not be discussing, is devoted to demonstrating how critical hermeneutics can be fruitfully brought to bear on scientific theory choice.)

Chapter 2: “Critical Fusion: Toward a Genuine Hermeneutics of Suspicion”

Now that I have offered a broad sketch of the book and highlighted some of its objectives, my remaining comments are directed at Chapter 2, which is entitled “Critical Fusion: Toward a Genuine Hermeneutics of Suspicion.” In chapter 2, Simpson’s aim is “to demonstrate the critical potential inherent in hermeneutical approaches to social and cultural understanding” (13). He begins by discussing three conditions, in which “internal or ‘immanent’ normative pressure” can be deployed hermeneutically in the investigation of social and cultural practices (13). The first condition is the fact that cultures are heterogenous rather than “homogenous wholes.” Likewise, cultural identity is neither uniform nor static but dynamic and always in process of negotiation. Cultural identity is thus better “understood as a ‘cluster’ concept, whereby certain elements of the set of features that collectively constitute one’s social identity may be revised as a result of critical reflection without resulting in the loss of identity” (13­–14). The second condition is his notion of “second-order rationality,” which is a “mode of rationality that has a culturally invariant purchase” (59). The third condition is what he refers to as “counterfactual dialogical critique” (59). I will discuss conditions two and three in more detail in the course of my commentary; however, first I turn to Simpson’s case for a hermeneutics of intercultural understanding.

Hermeneutics of Intercultural Understanding

Simpson contends that genuine—by which he means non-invidious—understanding of other cultures is possible. Essential to a critical hermeneutics and proper hermeneutic understanding is the interpreter’s ability to make intelligible the other culture in such a way that that culture would recognize itself in the interpreter’s account. That is, understanding another culture’s aims, assumptions, institutions, pursuits, and so forth are intimately connected to and make possible “meaningful critique” of the culture under investigation (61). Simpson goes on to say that “If we pay adequate attention to these facets of interpersonal or intercultural hermeneutic understanding, we will discover that the potential for meaningful critique is an ineliminable internal feature of such understanding” (61). Here Simpson begins to foreground what will become significantly more clear in the latter part of the chapter when he discusses how conditions two and three are operative in an intercultural exchange. Simpson’s description thus far highlights how he is working squarely within a Gadamerian framework. For example, what Simpson describes in this section is a hermeneutics of charity, which I take to be fully in line with Gadamer’s way of engaging texts, artworks, and so forth. Yet, Simpson’s development of Gadamer’s insights to show their critical import also serves as a counter to Habermas’ claim that Gadamerian hermeneutics is critically impotent.

As Simpson’s develops his account of intercultural dialogue, his use of  Gadamer’s notion of a fusion of horizons becomes evident. For example, Simpson writes that a genuine intercultural dialogue “will emerge from a distinctive kind of dialogue whose vocabulary does not fully precede the dialogue itself. It is rather a dialogue that is enabled by ongoing practices of forging commensurable or mutually enriched vocabularies for identifying and discussing differences, vocabularies that enable a mutually respectful exchange about matters of common concern among people differently situated” (61). What Simpson articulates strikes me as in complete harmony with Gadamer’s account of the fusion of horizons and the need to dialogically engage in a spirit of openness with, for example, a text or artwork, allowing it to speak and responding to what it has to say. The process of refining our projected meanings and assumptions is, for Gadamer (at least as I understand him), part of the process of forging a common language that can then give rise to mutual understanding about the subject matter at hand, which is, of course, different from mutual agreement. In other words, a common language is never given or assumed as already in place. (Simpson seems to suggest at times in this section that Gadamer assumes a common language.)  Rather, for Gadamer tradition—or better traditions—are, like cultures, always multiple, changing, and in process of being negotiated by the diverse parties that identify with particular traditions as well as those who find themselves in conflict with a particular tradition.

Other statements that Simpson makes about Gadamer’s notion of tradition and authority and how the two relate raise questions for me. For instance, Simpson states that Gadamer’s “tendency was to focus on the tradition that both text and interpreter share.” He goes on to add: “Gadamer is preoccupied [… with] the vertical relationship of an authoritative tradition to an interpreter,” whereas his own—that is, Simpson’s—approach focuses on “a horizontal relationship between interlocutors” (62). I take Gadamer’s view of authority to be, like traditions, also always under negotiation and contestation. That is, authority, contra certain Enlightenment characterizations, is not understood as that which one blindly accepts and in so doing signals intellectual laziness, as Kant might put it. In Gadamer’s critical remarks, he draws attention to and argues against the assumed false dichotomy between authority and reason that underlies certain Enlightenment philosophers (e.g., Descartes). In contrast, Gadamer’s view is that while authority can be and is abused, there can also be and are relationships and communities in which authority has a positive and non-dominating role. In such instances, authority is acknowledged because the person, community, institution, and so forth has demonstrated in practice that they are, in fact, knowledgeable, trustworthy, and in possession of some wisdom or know-how that one recognizes and from which one desires to learn. Consider someone who wants to learn jazz guitar and has the opportunity to study with Pat Metheny or John Scofield at Berklee College of Music. Both guitarists are recognized as master jazz guitarists and thus have a certain authority (based on their knowledge, skill, and grasp of the instrument and the tradition of jazz guitar-playing), and the school as an institution is known for its excellence in teaching and musical innovation etc. Given that recognition, there is a deference to those perceived as having more knowledge, understanding, experience, or know-how of a particular topic or skill, but that in no way means that the authority of the person, group, or institution can never be challenged, shown to be problematic, or outright rejected. Nor does it necessarily translate into an instance of intellectual laziness or irrationality but rather can be understand as acting in harmony with reason.

Before moving to the final section of chapter two, I want to briefly comment on Simpson’s intriguing discussion of the epistemological unavoidability of “some degree of ethnocentricism” (64). Simpson begins by making a distinction between an unavoidable“transcendental” ethnocentrism in our interpretive endeavors and a harmful ethnocentrism. Describing the former, he writes: “To see others as engaged in, say, argumentative practices or in morally relevant practices requires our experience with those kinds of practice as a touchstone. And we can be sure, to pick morality, that if another culture’s criteria for the application of moral terms demonstrated no overlap with ours, we would have no reason to think that they were engaged in moral discourse at all” (64). He goes on to say that this type of unavoidable enthnocentrism should not overly concern us and gives two reasons as to why this is the case. First, he states that we can discern the difference between “the ‘transcendentally’ necessary ethnocentricism” in which we cannot help but to draw upon and utilize our own ideas of rationality, cogency, and intelligibility and the harmful kind of ethnocentricsm (64). The latter, he notes, can be resisted and its problematic assumptions exposed through intercultural dialogue “aimed at mutually acceptable descriptions of the Sache and of its correlative contrasting practices” (64). In other words, successful hermeneutic engagement in which both parties come to a mutual understanding of the subject matter involves not only projecting possible meanings but also confirmation of those projections through dialogue with the other. If one’s projected meanings are shown to be incorrect, then one must be willing to revise one’s assumptions, projections, and interpretive theories. Here again, what he describes is thoroughly Gadamerian.

Moving to his second reason as to why we should not be overly concerned with the unavoidable type of enthocentrism, he writes:

Who ‘we’ are is always under revision. Our identities are best viewed as being open to nonfatal contestation because certain elements of the set of features that collectively constitute one’s social identity may be revised as a result of critical reflection without resulting in the loss of that identity. Such a threat to cultural identity need not be feared if we acknowledge that identity is a cluster phenomenon in the sense that few if any beliefs or professions of value, taken singly, are essential to an identity (65).

While I agree and resonate with Simpson’s claim that descriptions of the self are “open to contestable interpretations,” I wonder whether there is not more risk of losing one’s social or cultural identity in certain instances of critical dialogical engagements than is intimated. In other words, being hermeneutically open to the other involves real risk. For example, one could argue that some social and cultural identities seem to involve certain “professions of value and clusters of beliefs” that are so central to those identities that to give those up or to no longer be able to agree and “feel at home” with them would result in the loss of one’s social or cultural identity and would thereby cause a crisis through which one would have to navigate. Examples of such identities are traditional religious identities that require belief in certain core dogmas or perhaps similarly belonging to a political party or group that requires belief in certain values and support of specific practices, policies, and so forth. However, even if the risk is stronger that Simpson acknowledges, I don’t think this causes any major problems for his overall account, but rather underscores the open possibilities of our hermeneutic being and the reality that we are ever-and-always underway—that is, everything that constitutes our social identity, including our values, beliefs, practices, and ways of being are not rigidly fixed; rather, as socially and historically formed, our identities are dynamically lived and capable of being altered. When a radical change takes place, one’s social identity can be experienced as fundamentally upended such that an existential crisis of identity occurs, which then sets in motion the process of forming a new social identity. In short, with its emphasis on openness, finitude, and our historical conditioning, hermeneutics as a way of life involves genuine risk.

Toward a Critical Hermeneutics of Intercultural Understanding

In the last section of the chapter, Simpson elaborates how his approach offers critical responses to “differently cultured others” (65). He begins by stating the following maxim as a methodological assumption of cross-cultural understanding:  others have distinctive interpretations of the world that one can not only come to understand and respect but also from which one can learn. However, he quickly adds that this assumption is not an “indefeasible claim with respect to any particular case” and that there are “practices that defeat such a presumption” (66). Examples of such practices are human rights’ violations, which he discusses in his book, The Unfinished Project. Such abuses violate what he refers to as a “criterial property of the good life.” Spelling this out further, he adds: “I take the recognition of the centrality of the freedom of individuals to assent to or reject propositions put forward by others—propositions purporting to articulate what those individuals would endorse as being of central importance to them—to define a minimalist core of any set of criterial properties of the good life that would meet with reciprocal acknowledgment and survive the test of the conversation of humanity” (66). Hence, there is a kind of minimalist “ethic of human rights” that is required “for participation in such a conversation or as a claim about the minimalist core of any product of such a conversation” (65, 66).

Next, Simpson shows how his critical hermeneutics does not land us in crass relativism. It is in this part of the chapter that his notion of “second-order rationality” comes into sharper focus. Simpson begins by developing a counterargument to a view put forth by Richard Rorty. Rorty claims “that the only way to take seriously the distinction between the merely socially or culturally sanctioned, on the one hand, and the valid, on the other, is to adopt a discredited Platonic foundationalism.” Since no such foundation is forthcoming, there is “no non-question begging way . . . to critically evaluate or to referee conflicts between sociocultural practices” (67).

Contra Rorty, Simpson contends that one can appeal to internal grounds within cultural horizons for the purpose of critically evaluating social practices. Thus, it is not necessary to “appeal to anything beyond the standards of rationality or the central vocabulary of a particular cultural group” (67). Simpson adds that just as we can at least sometimes be shown and come to acknowledge that our own social practices and justifications for those practices are problematic and flawed, so too “there is no reason to think that others cannot be brought to see this as well” (67). Here we should recall Simpson’s earlier condition—namely, that cultures and social identities are never monolithic and have their own critical voices within—voices that offer critical arguments for why certain practices should be changed or done away with. In light of that reality, we can expect that, should we practice a hermeneutics of charity and take the time to understand a culture or group in a way that they would recognize themselves, a critical, cross-cultural engagement that could potentially bring about change is a genuine possibility.

In addition, every culture, whether explicitly or implicitly, claims that its practices and way of life offers the best path for its respective flourishing. At this point, Simpson appeals to his notion of second-order rationality. For example, he states that “This sort of culturally rooted validity claim provides the occasion or basis for a non-question-begging cultural critique informed by the presumption of what I call second-0rder rationality” (68). Moreover, second-order rationality, Simpson contends, is culturally invariant. As he explains: “It is the disposition or mode of rationality that we are entitled to impute to everyone—that is, an inclination to reform one’s practices in the direction of more rationality when one’s lack of rationality is pointed out in terms with which one is conversant” (68).  A key takeaway is that by utilizing this mode of rationality one can distinguish between “what everyone in a particular epistemic community happens to believe and what is, by their own lights, reasonable for them to believe” and all without having to appeal to external standards of rationality or networks of intelligibility (69). In a cross-cultural exchange of this sort, a community or group within a culture could be made aware of their own problematic practices and justifications for those practices and begin the process of negotiating changes.

Here we return to counterfactual dialogical critique, which Simpson describes as “a conversational modality that can be triggered by an encounter with a social or cultural practice […] that may seem questionable even when pursued in cultural contexts in which members of the affected group themselves seem to be part of the consensus in its favor” (15). Underlying his notion of counterfactual dialogical critique is the assumption that those in other cultures can, through dialogical engagement, come to see other interpretive possibilities and practices that would not only be fitting with their own cultural identity and traditions but would also be beneficial and even preferable to them once realized. The realization of such possibilities, Simpson observes, is often “suppressed not because such realization would offend against all intelligible interpretations of cultural identity but rather primarily because it would offend against particular interpretations, namely, those that may serve particular vested interests. For this reason, then, we should be on the lookout for interpretations of cultural identity that operate as cloaks or ideological veils concealing prudential, interest-based concerns” (72). Here we see what Simpson means by both a properly critical and a properly suspicious “hermeneutics of suspicion.”

The case that he discusses toward the end of chapter 2 is female genital excision as practiced in certain “parts of Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia,” in which women themselves constitute part of the group in support of the practice (70).  However, there are some women within these cultures that find the practice problematic. Simpson argues that through properly critical hermeneutic dialogue (which he spells out in detail in the chapter), the community’s social and moral imaginary could be expanded and those who formerly either had no voice or could not conceive of any other options would be able to participate in the dialogue, share their perspectives and concerns, and help to create new social categories that cohere within the culture’s matrices of intelligibility and which are acceptable to the community’s tradition. In fact, some promising changes along these lines have occurred which have “led to the implementation of alternative noninvasive rituals marking female rites of passage” (79).

To wrap things up, Simpson’s articulation of counterfactual dialogical critique and second-order rationality in the context of intercultural dialogue offers a “modality for bringing to bear critical perspectives that are both sensitive to cultural difference and avoid an indiscriminate relativism”—both of which are significant, welcome contributions to philosophical hermeneutics and help to further develop the critical import of Gadamerian hermeneutics in particular (60).

[Note: In response to my comments, Prof. Simpson clarified that his interpretation of Gadamer’s view of authority is actually more similar to my interpretation than I had suggested.]

Book Spotlight: Kant’s Critique of Aesthetic Judgment in the 20th Century

This wonderful volume edited by Stefano Marino and Pietro Terzi offers the reader a comprehensive account of the influence and reception of Kant’s Critique of the Power of Judgment in the 20th century. The book consists in eighteen chapters and has an international list of contributors.

Chapters are devoted to Kant’s influence on the phenomenological and hermeneutical traditions. For example, Günter Figal’s chapter, “Blank Spaces and Blank Spots,” investigates Heidegger’s apparent ignoring of Kant’s third critique. That is, in both the “Origin of the Work of Art” and his 1936–37 lecture course on the same topic, where he critiques Erlebnis-Ästhetik “Heidegger presents the philosophical project of aesthetics without mentioning the book that in general is most closely associated with it: Kant’s Critique of the Power of Judgment” (61). Dennis J. Schmidt’s chapter, “The Place of Kant’s Critique of the Power of Judgment in Gadamer’s Hermeneutics,” charts Gadamer’s complex engagement with Kant in part 1 of Truth and Method. Although Gadamer’s hermeneutic-aesthetic project draws from Aristotle and Heidegger, Schmidt argues that the “Critique of the Power of Judgment is the key text in the formulation of hermeneutic theory for Gadamer” (76).

Chapters are likewise devoted to the Frankfurt School’s reading of Kant. For example, Tom Huhn’s chapter, “Disinterest and an Overabundance of Subjectivity,” shows how, despite Adorno’s embrace of Hegel’s critique of Kantian aesthetics and his (Adorno’s) own critique of the same, the influence of Kantian aesthetics persisted in Adorno’s thought.

The volume also includes various readings of Kant by key thinkers in the French tradition. For example, Anne Sauvagnargues’s chapter, “The Discordant Accord of the Faculties: Deleuzian Readings of Kant,” argues that although Deleuze often criticizes Kant, he regularly returns to Kant’s third critique and utilizes Kantian insights (often creatively reinterpreted) to develop his own thought. Sauvagnargues charts Kant’s influence on several of Deleuze’s texts including Difference and Repetition (1968) and especially in his late philosophy where “the importance of Kant and his analysis of the sublime stand out as major references in his philosophy of cinema, the image and time (The Movement-Image [1983] and The Time-Image [1985]) (195).

Also noteworthy is the detailed Introduction by Stefano Marino and Pietro Terzi, which does an amazing job—within a limited textual space—of tracing the history and geography of Kant’s reception. The volume comes highly recommended and will be of interest to Kant scholars as well as those interested in aesthetics, the philosophy of art, and the influence of Kant on contemporary German and French philosophical traditions.

NASPH/SPEP 2021 Satellite Session

For those planning to attend SPEP 2021, we invite you to attend the North American Society of Philosophical Hermeneutics’ Satellite Session which will take place on Sunday, Sept. 26, 11 am – 2 pm EST. (You have to register with SPEP to gain an access key. Please visit SPEP.com to register. ) Below is the program for the NASPH session. We hope to see you there!

Panel 1: “Hermeneutical Aesthetics and Ethics”

  1. Cynthia R. Nielsen (University of Dallas), “Gadamer and Street Art”
  2. Catherine Homan (Mount Mary College) “Gadamer and the Possibility of Poetic Education”
  3. Alexander Crist (Texas A&M) “Poetic Dwelling, Ethos, and Trust in Philosophical Hermeneutics: Gadamer on ‘Vertrauen‘ and ‘Rückkehr‘ in the Poetry of Hilde Domin”

Panel 2: “New Directions in Hermeneutics”

  1. Ken Archer (Catholic University of America), “Hermeneutics of Technology and Agency”
  2. Bruce Ellis Benson (U. Vienna), “Queer Hermeneutix: On Being the Stranger”)

Hot off the Press: The Gadamerian Mind & A Discount Code

The Gadamerian Mind, edited by Theodore George and Gert-Jan van der Heiden has now been published!  A brief description of the volume from Routledge’s website is listed below.  Our readers can receive a 20% discount by entering this code: FLY21.

Book Description

Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900-2002) is one of the most important philosophers of the post-1945 era. His name has become all but synonymous with the philosophical study of hermeneutics, the field concerned with theories of understanding and interpretation and laid out in his landmark book, Truth and Method. Influential not only within continental philosophy, Gadamer’s thought has also made significant contributors to related fields such as religion, literary theory and education.

The Gadamerian Mind is a major survey of the fundamental aspects of Gadamer’s thought, with contributions from leading scholars of Gadamer and hermeneutics from around the world. Thirty-eight chapters are divided into six clear parts:

Overviews

Key Concepts
Historical Influences
Contemporary Encounters
Beyond Philosophy
Legacies and Questions.

Although Gadamer’s work addresses a remarkable range of topics, careful consideration is given throughout the volume to consistent concerns that orient his thought. Important in this respect is his relation to philosophers in the Western tradition, from Plato to Heidegger.

An indispensable resource for anyone studying and researching Gadamer, hermeneutics and the history of twentieth-century philosophy, The Gadamerian Mind will also be of interest to those in related disciplines such as religion, literature, political theory and education.

New Publication Coming Soon: The Gadamerian Mind (Routledge)

Our readers will be interested in a new publication, The Gadamerian Mind, edited by Theodore George and Gert-Jan van der Heiden. The volume will be available for pre-order on August 25, 2021. A brief description of the volume from Routledge’s website is listed below. A preview of the proofs for Cynthia R. Nielsen’s chapter, “Gadamer on Play and the Play of Art,” can be found here.

Book Description

Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900-2002) is one of the most important philosophers of the post-1945 era. His name has become all but synonymous with the philosophical study of hermeneutics, the field concerned with theories of understanding and interpretation and laid out in his landmark book, Truth and Method. Influential not only within continental philosophy, Gadamer’s thought has also made significant contributors to related fields such as religion, literary theory and education.

The Gadamerian Mind is a major survey of the fundamental aspects of Gadamer’s thought, with contributions from leading scholars of Gadamer and hermeneutics from around the world. Thirty-eight chapters are divided into six clear parts:

Overviews

Key Concepts
Historical Influences
Contemporary Encounters
Beyond Philosophy
Legacies and Questions.

Although Gadamer’s work addresses a remarkable range of topics, careful consideration is given throughout the volume to consistent concerns that orient his thought. Important in this respect is his relation to philosophers in the Western tradition, from Plato to Heidegger.

An indispensable resource for anyone studying and researching Gadamer, hermeneutics and the history of twentieth-century philosophy, The Gadamerian Mind will also be of interest to those in related disciplines such as religion, literature, political theory and education.

Hermeneutics in Real Life: A New Project by Todd Mei

Our readers will be interested in Todd Mei’s new project, Hermeneutics in Real Life (HINRL). He describes his project as being “open to anyone interested in the application of hermeneutics to real life. The project includes online resources and a monthly, hour long, online discussion on topics applying hermeneutics to various areas of real life. While hosted by Ricoeur scholars, the invitation to participate is extended to the entire hermeneutics community, including those new to the field. ”

HINRL has an upcoming event featuring Prof. Richard Kearney. You can register for the event here.

Dialogical Breakdown and Covid-19: Solidarity in a Shared World

For those interested, here’s a recent article that Drs. Cynthia R. Nielsen David Liakos co-authored entitled: “Dialogical Breakdown and Covid-19: Solidarity and Disagreement in a Shared World.” (You can download the article for free from the Journal of Applied Hermeneutics.) See abstract below.

Abstract: This article considers the limitations, but also the insights, of Gadamerian hermeneutics for understanding and responding to the crisis precipitated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Our point of departure is the experience of deep disagreements amid the pandemic, and our primary example is ongoing debates in the United States about wearing masks. We argue that, during this dire situation, interpersonal mutual understanding is insufficient for resolving such bitter disputes. Rather, following Gadamer’s account of our dialogical experience with an artwork, we suggest that our encounter with the virus gives rise to new ways of seeing and experiencing ourselves and the world. Further, we draw on Gadamer’s account of the fusion of horizons to show how even competing perspectives on wearing masks arise within a shared space of meaning created by the virus. These insights provide hope for an improved model of political dialogue in the world of Covid-19.

 

Mini-Review of Overcoming Polarization in the Public Square: Civic Dialogue by Lauren Swayne Barthold

Lauren Swayne Barthold’s new book, Overcoming Polarization in the Public Square: Civic Dialogue.

The book is comprised of six chapters and makes a case for how dialogue can help to break through particularly polarized sociopolitical spaces. According to Barthold, when the public square has become throughly polarized and people seem to ignore or have no interest in rational argumentation or appeals to empirical facts, the focus should turn first to  building trust so that openness and mutual understanding can occur. On Barthold’s view, civic dialogue must be structured in such a way that it creates a space for genuine listening and reflecting on one’s own position and the other’s. The hope is that while acknowledging the real differences that exist among individuals and groups, such structured dialogue will allow what we share in common as human beings to come into focus.

Barthold draws from a variety of dialogue partners and texts including Plato’s Socrates from the Republic, Martin Buber, John Dewey,  Hans-Georg Gadamer, Hannah Arendt, Miranda Fricker, and contemporary research on cognitive bias. While engaging philosophical sources and insights, Barthold also turns to the work of dialogic practitioners. E.g., in chapter 4, she discusses an approach to dialogue called, “Reflexive Structured Dialogue,” which “places first person experience and narrative” at the center of dialogic practice (Overcoming Polarization, p. 19). Against the conclusions of certain practitioners who claim that mutual understanding is a form of empathy, Barthold argues that “the goal of dialogic understanding should not be conceived as empathy–either emotional or cognitive.” Rather, in accord with insights from Buber and Gadamer, Barthold contends that “mutual understanding is best defined as acknowledging the other’s claim to existence as a Thou. To take up the truth claim of the other is to engage in a dialogic relationship that affirms the other’s status as a Thou.” (ibid., p. 21).

Given the current dialogical breakdown, polarization, dismissal of science, and lack of trust among differing groups in the United States, Barthold’s book is a welcome contribution to both the public sphere and the classroom.

If you want to learn more about Lauren’s book, you may listen to her discuss the book in an interview on the podcast “Ethics in Action.”

NASPH 2020 Virtual Conference Information

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic,  the NASPH 2020 annual meeting will take place via Zoom on the afternoon of Friday October 30 and from mid-morning to mid-afternoon on Saturday October 31.

Though the format will be unusual, we have an amazing lineup of speakers including Dr. Ted George, Dr. Lauren Barthold, and Dr. John Arthos and a panel on “Ricoeur and the Just University,” featuring Dr. Dan Boscaljon, Dr. Jeff Keuss, and Dr. Glenn Whitehouse. We look forward to lively discussions and hope that you will join us!

For more information about the program, speakers, and papers, see our listing in PhilEvents.

Lastly, more information will be posted soon on the NASPH website, including how to obtain the Zoom link to enter the conference, etc.

Please share widely!

The Responsibility to Understand Hermeneutical Contours of Ethical Life by Ted George

Our readers will be delighted to know that Ted George’s new book, The Responsibility to Understand: Contours of Ethical Life (Edinburgh University Press 2020) has now been published. Below is a brief description of the book from EUP’s website.

Responsibility to UnderstandWhat is the significance of hermeneutics at the intersections of ethics, politics and the arts and humanities?

  • Discusses how hermeneutics offers ways to develop an ethics
  • Makes the case for the relevance of contemporary hermeneutics for current scholarly discussions of responsibility within continental European philosophy
  • Contributes a new, ethically inflected approach to current debate within post-Gadamerian hermeneutics
  • Extends his analysis to the practice of living and covers animals, art, literature and translation

Few topics have received broader attention within contemporary philosophy than that of responsibility. Theodore George makes a novel case for a distinctive sense of responsibility at stake in the hermeneutical experiences of understanding and interpretation.

He argues for the significance of this hermeneutical responsibility in the context of our relations with things, animals and others, as well as political solidarity and the formation of solidarities through the arts, literature and translation

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