Gadamer and the Social Turn in Epistemology

By Carolyn Culbertson

Book Overview

Explores Gadamer's hermeneutic theory of understanding and puts this theory into conversation with several social epistemologies, including feminist epistemology.

While some take Gadamer's Truth and Method to be a departure from epistemological questions and concerns, author Carolyn Culbertson reads Gadamer's work as offering a valuable reflection on the nature of understanding-one that is deeply resonant with the recent social turn in epistemology. Like social epistemologists, Gadamer worries about the epistemic irresponsibility that we encourage when we treat an attitude of objectivity, wherein the inquirer lacks any awareness of their social and historical situation, as an epistemic ideal. Like social epistemologists too, Gadamer argues that understanding that one is socially and historically situated does not mean believing that one is fated to simply repeat traditional ideas without critique or modification-a concern frequently raised in response to critiques of Enlightenment epistemology. By developing such parallels, Gadamer and the Social Turn in Epistemology offers seasoned readers of Gadamer a new context in which to appreciate his discussion of understanding in Truth and Method and readers unfamiliar with Gadamer a productive point of access into his major work.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1438498152
• ISBN13: 9781438498157
• Release Date: December 2024
• Publisher: State University of New York Press
• Length: 205 Pages
• Weight: 0.68 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 9.0"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher