The Gadamerian Mind (Routledge Philosophical Minds)

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 contributions 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. 38 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.

Theodore George is Professor of Philosophy at Texas A&M University, USA. His research and teaching interests are in contemporary hermeneutics, contemporary continental ethics, and in German philosophy since Kant. His publications include Tragedies of Spirit: Tracing Finitude in Hegel’s Phenomenology (2007), The Responsibility to Understand: Hermeneutical Contours of Ethical Life (2020), and numerous articles and book chapters in his areas of interest. He is also translator of Günter Figal, Objectivity: the Hermeneutical and Philosophy, and serves as Editor of Epoché: a journal for the history of philosophy.

Gert-Jan van der Heiden is Professor of Metaphysics at Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands. He is the author of The Voice of Misery: A Continental Philosophy of Testimony (2020), Ontology after Ontotheology: Plurality, Event, and Contingency in Contemporary Philosophy (2014), and The Truth (and Untruth) of Language: Heidegger, Ricoeur, and Derrida on Disclosure and Displacement (2010). He (co-)edited Continental Perspectives on Community: Human Coexistence from Unity to Plurality (Routledge, 2020), Saint Paul and Philosophy: The Consonance of Ancient and Modern Thought (2017), Phenomenological Perspectives on Plurality (2014) and Investigating Subjectivity: Classical and New Perspectives (2012).