Written by a team of leading international scholars, The Agon of Interpretations explores the challenges and possibilities of critical intercultural hermeneutics in a globalized world. Editor Ming Xie and writers from eight countries on five continents not only lay out the importance of critical hermeneutics to intercultural understanding but also probe the conditions under which a hermeneutics that is both intercultural and critical can be possible.
The contributors examine and define critical intercultural hermeneutics as an emerging field from a wide variety of disciplinary perspectives, including phenomenology, critical theory, sociology, object-oriented ontology, and pragmatism. The essays combine philosophical argumentation with historical and intellectual inquiry. Together, the contributors to The Agon of Interpretations demonstrate the value of critical intercultural hermeneutics for enabling intercultural communication, engagement, and understanding.
Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments
Ming Xie (University of Toronto, English) – Towards a Critical Intercultural Hermeneutics
Part I: Resources of Phenomenology and Hermeneutics
1. Ian Angus (Simon Fraser University, Humanities) – The Inter-Cultural Horizon of Contemporary Understanding
2. Jean Grondin (UniversitÉ de MontrÉal, Philosophy) – Do Gadamer and Ricoeur Have the Same Understanding of Hermeneutics?
3. Suzi Adams (Flinders University, Sociology) – The Commonality of the World and the Intercultural Element: Meaning, Culture and Chora
4. Bernhard Waldenfels (Ruhr-UniversitÄt Bochum, Philosophy) – Comparing the Incomparable: Crossing Intercultural Borders
5. R. Radhakrishnan (University of California, Irvine, English and Comparative Literature) – World, Home, and Hermeneutic Phenomenology
Part II: Intercultural Complications and Problematics
6. Graham Harman (American University in Cairo, Philosophy) – Objects and Orientalism
7. Zhang Longxi (City University of Hong Kong, Comparative Literature and Translation) – Understanding, Misunderstanding, and the Critical Function of Hermeneutics in Cross-Cultural Studies
8. Hans-Georg Moeller (University of College Cork, Philosophy) – Universal Values or Cultural Differences: A Pointless Question
9. David B. Wong (Duke University, Philosophy) – Reconciling the Tension between Similarity and Difference in Critical Hermeneutics
Part III: Expanding Horizons: Empathy, Dialogue, Critique, Wisdom
10. Mihai I. Spariosu (University of Georgia, Distinguished Research Professor) – Some Observations on the Prospects of Intercultural Hermeneutics in a Global Framework
11. Lawrence K. Schmidt (Hendrix College, Philosophy) – Intercultural Understanding in Philosophical Hermeneutics
12. Richard Shusterman (Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Philosophy) and Wojciech Malecki (Wroclaw University, Polish Philology) – Making Sense of Critical Hermeneutics: Pragmatist Reflections
13. Lorenzo C. Simpson (State University of New York, Philosophy) – Critical Interventions: Towards a Hermeneutical Rejoinder
14. Hans-Herbert KÖgler (University of North Florida, Philosophy) – Empathy, Dialogue, Critique: How Should We Understand (Inter-)Cultural Violence?
Ming Xie – Afterword: Contesting the Real
List of Contributors
