The Blackwell Companion to Hermeneutics

The Blackwell Companion to Hermeneutics is destined to become an invaluable resource for its incisive discussions of all aspects of hermeneutics within the field of philosophy.

—Burt Hopkins, Seattle University

This is an extraordinarily rich collection of articles on every aspect of hermeneutics. It covers not just the history of hermeneutics from the ancient Greeks to the present, but also topics ranging from aesthetics and politics to pragmatism and deconstruction as analysed by key thinkers such as Schleiermacher, Dilthey, Heidegger, Gadamer, Vattimo, and Apel. This Companion is an essential guide to the hermeneutic tradition.

—Dermot Moran, University College Dublin

Hermeneutics—the philosophical theory of interpretation—has been one of the most influential strands of European thought over the last two hundred years or more. This comprehensive volume of essays, with contributions by many leading experts in the field, constitutes an ideal point of entry into the hermeneutic tradition. Its range and level of detail will also appeal to those who wish to advance their knowledge of hermeneutic philosophy and its many important consequences.

—Peter Dews, University of Essex

The Blackwell Companion to Hermeneutics is a collection of original essays that provides a definitive historical, systematic, authoritative, and critical compendium of philosophical hermeneutics. The volume explores the art and theory of interpretation as it intersects with contemporary philosophical and interdisciplinary schools of thought, including humanism, politics, education, theology, literature, and law.

Essays also include cutting-edge discussions of the relation of hermeneutics to the history of philosophy and address the major themes, topics, core concepts, and key figures at the heart of the discipline. The reference features 70 chapters from an international cast of leading and upcoming scholars, who offer historically informed, philosophically comprehensive, and critically astute contributions in their individual fields of expertise.

In doing so, they identify and enact different aspects of hermeneutical aims and approaches in an attempt to bear witness to both the inherent diversity of hermeneutics and also the constancy and fidelity of its return to history and tradition.

Timely and thought-provoking, The Blackwell Companion to Hermeneutics is the only comprehensive reference work of its kind, offering a wealth of information for everyone with an interest in hermeneutics.