Strong hermeneutics : contingency and moral identity / Nicholas H. Smith.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Smith, Nicholas H. (Nicholas Hugh), 1962-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ethics.

Hermeneutics.

Identity (Philosophical concept).

Contingency (Philosophy).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (208 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Routledge, 1997.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Recent years have seen a resurgence of interest in ethics, particularly in the approaches of deconstruction and hermeneutics. At the same time, questions of identity have risen to prominence in philosophy and beyond into cultural studies and literature. Strong Hermeneutics is a clear and accessible investigation of both the enlightenment and postmodern or 'weak' approaches to contemporary discussions of ethics. The weak view, which can be traced back to Nietzche and seen in the recent work of Rorty and Lyotard, is sceptical of any universal principles in ethics. The enlightenment

Contents:

Strong Hermeneutics Contingency and moral identity; Copyright; Contents; Preface; Introduction; 1 The variety of hermeneutics; Before hermeneutics: Enlightenment fundamentalism; Weak hermeneutics: Nietzsche, Rorty and Postmodernism; Strong hermeneutics: Gadamer, Taylor and Ricoeur; Deep hermeneutics: Early Habermas and critical theory; Beyond hermeneutics: Discourse ethics; 2 Strong hermeneutics and the contingency of self; Taylor's philosophical anthropology; Rorty, Nietzsche and Freud; Strong hermeneutics and the postmodern self; Ricoeur on self-identity

3 Interpretation, practical reason and traditionThe narrative form of practical reason; Strong evaluation and moral realism; Pluralism and conservatism; 4 Deep hermeneutics, emancipation and fate; Ethical totality and the causality of fate; Habermas, Hegel and Freud; Norm, nature and recognition; 5 Communication and the contingency of language; Communicative and strategic language use; Deconstructive and agonistic objections to the primacy of communication; Wittgenstein, idealizations and hermeneutics; 6 Strong hermeneutics and discourse ethics; Discourse ethics and the moral point of view

Morality and ethical lifeHabermas and neo-Aristotelianism; Conclusion: Towards a critique of procedural reason; 7 The ecological politics of strong hermeneutics; Ecology and the subject of responsibility; Postmodernism, political theory and responsibility to otherness; The truth of world-disclosure; Politics, language and criticism; Notes; Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [170]-192) and index.

ISBN:

1-134-71207-3

0-203-05355-9

1-134-71208-1

1-280-32993-9

9780203053553

OCLC:

475876413