Unquiet Understanding: Gadamer's Philosophical Hermeneutics (Suny Series in Contemporary Continental Philosophy) (Suny Contemporary Continental Philosophy) - Softcover

Davey, Nicholas

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0791468429 ISBN 13: 9780791468425

Publisher: State University of New York Press, 2006

Synopsis

Argues that Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics merits a radical reappraisal.

In Unquiet Understanding, Nicholas Davey reappropriates the radical content of Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics to reveal that it offers a powerful critique of Nietzsche’s philosophy of language, nihilism, and post-structuralist deconstructions of meaning. By critically engaging with the practical and ethical implications of philosophical hermeneutics, Davey asserts that the importance of philosophical hermeneutics resides in a formidable double claim that strikes at the heart of both traditional philosophy and deconstruction. He shows that to seek control over the fluid nature of linguistic meaning with rigid conceptual regimes or to despair of such fluidity because it frustrates hope for stable meaning is to succumb to nihilism. Both are indicative of a failure to appreciate that understanding depends upon the vital instability of the “word.” This innovative book demonstrates that Gadamer’s thought merits a radical reappraisal and that it is more provocative than commonly supposed.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

"This is the most enlightening introduction available to Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics. It redefines transcendence and translation in hermeneutical terms, but it goes substantially beyond this to offer an introduction to many other topics in philosophical hermeneutics." — Richard E. Palmer, coeditor of Dialogue and Deconstruction: The Gadamer-Derrida Encounter

In Unquiet Understanding, Nicholas Davey reappropriates the radical content of Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics to reveal that it offers a powerful critique of Nietzsche’s philosophy of language, nihilism, and post-structuralist deconstructions of meaning. By critically engaging with the practical and ethical implications of philosophical hermeneutics, Davey asserts that the importance of philosophical hermeneutics resides in a formidable double claim that strikes at the heart of both traditional philosophy and deconstruction. He shows that to seek control over the fluid nature of linguistic meaning with rigid conceptual regimes or to despair of such fluidity because it frustrates hope for stable meaning is to succumb to nihilism. Both are indicative of a failure to appreciate that understanding depends upon the vital instability of the "word." This innovative book demonstrates that Gadamer’s thought merits a radical reappraisal and that it is more provocative than commonly supposed.

"Elegantly written, this book provides an engaging, original, and challenging reading of Gadamer’s hermeneutics. Davey offers an insightful clarification of the nature and specific contribution of hermeneutics as well as a revealing description of the wantonness of understanding." — Jean Grondin, author of Sources of Hermeneutics

About the Author:

Nicholas Davey is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Dundee, Scotland.

About this edition

• Publisher: State University of New York Press
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0791468429
• ISBN 13: 9780791468425
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 310