New Arguments in Hermeneutics

While hermeneutics is firmly established as a tradition and methodology in the human sciences, interpretive philosophy seems to be under increasing pressure in recent philosophical trends such as the “posthuman turn,” the “nonhuman turn,” and the “speculative turn.” Responding to this predicament, Updating the Interpretive Turn shows how hermeneutics is gaining new force and fresh applications today by bringing together a group of both upcoming hermeneutic philosophers and more seasoned scholars. 

In the wake of the so-called “interpretive turn” in the human sciences in the 20^th century, marking the key differences with the natural sciences (Heidegger, Gadamer, Ricoeur, Taylor), the volume highlights the contribution of hermeneutics to a range of timely debates in addressing such timely topics as the entanglement of social science, culture, and politics in liberal capi­talist societies, the extremism with which some identities are held within those societies, the nature of moral judgment and social dialogue in a “post-truth” era, the significance of interpretation for understanding non-human life forms, and the inherently hermeneutic dimension of such practices as work and productive action, testimony and witnessing, and measurement in scientific practice. 

During this symposium, moderated by Gert-Jan van der Heiden, book editor Michiel Meijer elaborates on the rationale for Updating the Interpretive Turn, followed by presentations and discussions of four chapters by their authors: Hanna Meretoja, Nicholas Smith, Jason Blakely, and Georgia Warnke.

This symposium is co-organized by Center for European Philosophy and Center for Contemporary European Philosophy.