Description
Book SynopsisLorenzo C. Simpson offers a persuasive and powerful argument that hermeneutics is a valuable tool not only for critical theory but also for addressing many of the urgent issues of today. He shows its utility for unpacking intractable debates in the philosophy of science, multiculturalism, social epistemology, and racial and social justice.
Trade ReviewHermeneutics as Critique is a substantive intellectual contribution on multiple fronts. -- Magnus Ferguson * Research in Phenomenology *
Simpson’s book is a stunning intellectual achievement that deftly demonstrates the power of philosophical hermeneutics to illuminate ongoing debates about scientific theory choice, the nature and autonomy of human agency, and the biological significance of race. The argumentation is learned and precise, the depth of philosophical insight extraordinary! -- Robert Gooding-Williams, author of
In the Shadow of Du Bois: Afro-Modern Political Thought in AmericaI know of no other book expansive enough to cover issues in hermeneutics, critical theory, the philosophy of science, multiculturalism, race, social epistemology, and global justice at all, much less in the depth that Lorenzo Simpson covers them in
Hermeneutics as Critique. Here Simpson takes the tradition of hermeneutics to the next level with clarity, elegance, and insight. -- Georgia Warnke, author of
After Identity: Rethinking Race, Sex, and GenderIn this engaging study, Simpson reaffirms the relevance of a critical hermeneutics for the full range of human inquiry and practice, including science, politics, and sociocultural understanding. He decisively rebuts the common charge of relativism and makes original and valuable contributions to discussions about critical rationality, social agency, race, and cross-cultural interpretation. -- Kenneth Baynes, author of
HabermasLorenzo Simpson's
Hermeneutics as Critique is a path-breaking contribution to the defense of hermeneutics, not just as a method of text interpretation but also as a critical philosophy with wide-ranging power to illuminate cultural dilemmas. Hermeneutics is commonly understood to espouse a coherentist account of truth and a contextualist understanding of culture; as such, it seems devoid of an ideology-critical moment to invalidate established types and classifications or repudiate cultural belief systems. Through a lucid and elegantly written account, Simpson shows how hermeneutics can be practiced as a critical philosophy of science and of culture. The best contribution to the hermeneutics-critical theory discussion since the Habermas-Gadamer debate. -- Seyla Benhabib, professor emerita of political science and philosophy at Yale University and senior research fellow at Columbia Law School
Table of ContentsPreface and Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Twin Earth and Its Horizons: On Hermeneutics, Reference, and Scientific Theory Choice
2. Critical Fusions: Toward a Genuine “Hermeneutics of Suspicion”
3. Agency, the “Politics of Memory,” and Reparative Justice: Hermeneutics and the Politics of Development
4. Toward a Hermeneutics of Race: Biology, Race, Ethnicity, and Culture
5. Concluding Reflections: Toward a New Reconciliation of Hermeneutics and Critical Theory, or Notes Toward a Hermeneutic Democracy
Appendix: Toward a Hermeneutics of the Ethical Response
Notes
Bibliography
Index
