Feminist Interpretations of Hans-Georg Gadamer (Re-Reading the Canon)

Images of and references to women are so rare in the vast corpus of his published work that there seems to be no "woman question" for Hans-Georg Gadamer. Yet the authors of the fifteen essays included in this volume show that it is possible to read past Gadamer's silences about women and other Others to find rich resources for feminist theory and practice in his views of science, language, history, knowledge, medicine, and literature. While the essayists find much of value in Gadamer's work, he emerges from their discussion as a controversial figure. Some contributors see him as promoting genuine respect for and engagement with Otherness: others claim that in a Gadamerian conversation the Other has no voice. For some, Gadamer's immersion in tradition is an impediment to feminist inquiry; for others, cognizant of the need to understand tradition well in order to contest its intransigence or benefit from its insights, his way of engaging tradition is especially productive. Some contributors take issue with the separation he maintains between philosophy and politics; others find problems in his relative silence on matters of embodiment; still others maintain that a "fusion of horizons" amounts to a colonizing of difference. But a common aim of each of these controversies is to discern what feminists can learn from Gadamer as well as what limitations feminist reinterpretations of his work must inevitably encounter. Contributors are Linda Mart?­n Alcoff, William Cowling, Gemma Corradi Fiumara, Marie Fleming, Silja Freudenberger, Susan Hekman, Susan-Judith Hoffmann, Grace M. Jantzen, Patricia Altenbernd Johnson, Laura Kaplan, Robin Pappas, Robin May Schott, Meili Steele, Veronica Vasterling, Georgia Warnke, and Kathleen Roberts Wright.

Images of and references to women are so rare in the vast corpus of his published work that there seems to be no woman question for Hans-Georg Gadamer. Yet the authors of the fifteen essays included in this volume show that it is possible to read past Gadamer's silences about women and other Others to find rich resources for feminist theory and practice in his views of science, language, history, knowledge, medicine, and literature. While the essayists find much of value in Gadamer's work, he emerges from their discussion as a controversial figure. Some contributors see him as promoting genuine respect for and engagement with Otherness; others claim that in a Gadamerian conversation the Other has no voice. For some, Gadamer's immersion in tradition is an impediment to feminist inquiry; for others, cognizant of the need to understand tradition well in order to contest its intransigence or benefit from its insights, his way of engaging tradition is especially productive. Some contributors take issue with the separation he maintains between philosophy and politics; others find problems in his relative silence on matters of embodiment; still others maintain that a fusion of horizons amounts to a colonizing of difference. But a common aim of each of these controversies is to discern what feminists can learn from Gadamer as well as what limitations feminist reinterpretations of his work must inevitably encounter.

Copyright Page......Page 5 Contents......Page 6 Preface......Page 8 Acknowledgments......Page 11 Introduction: Why Feminists Do Not Read Gadamer......Page 13 1 (En)gendering Dialogue Between Gadamer’s Hermeneutics and Feminist Thought......Page 51 2 Hermeneutics and Constructed Identities......Page 69 3 Gadamer’s Philosophical Hermeneutics and Feminist Projects......Page 93 4 Gadamer’s Conversation: Does the Other Have a Say?......Page 121 5 The Development of Hermeneutic Prospects......Page 145 6 Postmodern Hermeneutics? Toward a Critical Hermeneutics......Page 161 7 The Ontology of Change: Gadamer and Feminism......Page 193 8 Toward a Critical Hermeneutics......Page 215 9 Gadamer’s Feminist Epistemology......Page 243 10 The Hermeneutic Conversation as Epistemological Model......Page 271 11 The Horizon of Natality: Gadamer, Heidegger, and the Limits of Existence......Page 297 12 Questioning Authority......Page 319 13 Gender, Nazism, and Hermeneutics......Page 337 14 Three Problematics of Linguistic Vulnerability: Gadamer, Benhabib, and Butler......Page 347 15 Three Applications of Gadamer’s Hermeneutics: Philosophy-Faith-Feminism......Page 379 Selected Bibliography......Page 389 Contributors......Page 401 Index......Page 405 (En)gendering dialogue between Gadamer's hermeneutics and feminist thought / Kathleen Roberts Wright Hermeneutics and constructed identities / Georgia Warnke Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics and feminist projects / Susan-Judith Hoffmann Gadamer's conversation : does the other have a say? / Marie Fleming The development of hermeneutic prospects / Gemma Corradi Fiumara Postmodern hermeneutics? : toward a critical hermeneutics / Veronica Vasterling The ontology of change : Gadamer and feminism / Susan Hekman Toward a critical hermeneutics / Robin Pappas and William Cowling Gadamer's feminist epistemology / Linda Martín Alcoff The hermeneutic conversation as epistemological model / Silja Freudenberger ; translated by Melanie Richter-Bernberg The horizon of natality : Gadamer, Heidegger, and the limits of existence / Grace M. Jantzen Questioning authority / Patricia Altenbernd Johnson Gender, Nazism, and hermeneutics / Robin May Schott Three problematics of linguistic vulnerability : Gadamer, Benhabib, and Butler / Meili Steele Three applications of Gadamer's hermeneutics : philosophy-faith-feminism / Laura Duhn Kaplan. Images of and references to women are so rare in the corpus of his published work that there seems to be no "woman question" for Hans-Georg Gadamer. Yet the authors of these 15 essays show it is possible to read past Gadamer's silences to find rich resources for feminist theory and practice. Fifteen essays examine the work of German philosopher Hans Georg Gadamer to provide feminist interpretations of his views on science, language, history, literature, and other topics.