
The Responsibility to Understand
Hermeneutical Contours of Ethical Life
Theodore George(Author)
Edinburgh University Press
Published on 8. July 2020
Book
Hardback
240 pages
978-1-4744-6763-6 (ISBN)
Description
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.
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.
Reviews / Votes
Theodore George's book The Responsibility to Understand: Hermeneutical Contours of Ethical Life is a sensitive, thoughtful, and insightful invocation to rehabilitate connection and the relational capacity of our lives. This book not only invites an internal reflection of the ways I live in the world and keep in relationship to others in it, but it deeply connects to the work we do in practice professions. Like Gadamer, George offers us a sophisticated practice philosophy that resonates and coalesces with our human endeavours of understanding each other in the context of urgent social and global concerns and fundamental human experiences of suffering, pain, joy, loss, and love. -- Nancy J. Moules, University of Calgary * Journal of Applied Hermeneutics * A sensitive, thoughtful, and insightful invocation to rehabilitate connection and the relational capacity of our lives. This book not only invites an internal reflection of the ways I live in the world and keep in relationship to others in it, but it deeply connects to the work we do in practice professions. Like Gadamer, George offers us a sophisticated practice philosophy that resonates and coalesces with our human endeavours of understanding each other in the context of urgent social and global concerns and fundamental human experiences of suffering, pain, joy, loss, and love. -- Nancy J. Moules, University of Calgary * Journal of Applied Hermeneutics * George's book is both excellent and illuminating [...] As a reader one feels guided by someone who wants to hold together multiple strands of thought and yet remain himself in the process. More than this, however, the reader is led by someone who has immersed himself in the works and words of the tradition, and someone who is at home there. -- Niall Keane * Research In Phenomenology * In this excellent contribution to both ethics and hermeneutics, George offers a clear argument why present-day discussions on responsibility should engage with the insights of philosophical hermeneutics. The hermeneutic emphasis on understanding, as this study convincingly argues, is to be understood as a responsibility to understand. -- Gert-Jan van der Heiden, Radboud UniversityMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Edinburgh
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 137 mm
Thickness: 13 mm
Weight
408 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4744-6763-6 (9781474467636)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
05/2020
Edinburgh University Press
€0.00
Available for download
Person
Theodore George is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Texas A&M University. He is the author of Tragedies of Spirit: Tracing Finitude in Hegel's Phenomenology (SUNY, 2006). He is co-editor of The Gadamerian Mind (Routledge, forthcoming) and Philosophers and their Poets: On the Poetic Turn in German Philosophy since Kant (SUNY, 2019). He is the translator of Objectivity: The Hermeneutical and Philosophy by Guenter Figal (SUNY, 2010).
Content
Acknowledgements
Preface. The Unbearable Lightness of Ethics
Introduction. Contemporary Hermeneutics and the Question of Responsibility
Part I. The Responsibility to Understand
1. The Responsibility to Understand
2. The Capacity for Displacement
Part II. I and Thou
3. Things
4. Animals
5. Others
Part III. I and We
6. Solidarity
7. Arts and Literature
8. Translation
?
Preface. The Unbearable Lightness of Ethics
Introduction. Contemporary Hermeneutics and the Question of Responsibility
Part I. The Responsibility to Understand
1. The Responsibility to Understand
2. The Capacity for Displacement
Part II. I and Thou
3. Things
4. Animals
5. Others
Part III. I and We
6. Solidarity
7. Arts and Literature
8. Translation
?