Few topics have received broader attention within contemporary philosophy than that of responsibility. Current interest in such questions of responsibility draw on a broad range of approaches and methods, from those customarily associated with analytic philosophy to those associated with phenomenology and existentialism, deconstruction, critical theory, feminist theory, race theory, and post-colonial theory. Yet, despite the expanse of current interest, philosophers have not fully appreciated the contributions that can be made to questions of responsibility by contemporary hermeneutics. Based ... More

Few topics have received broader attention within contemporary philosophy than that of responsibility. Current interest in such questions of responsibility draw on a broad range of approaches and methods, from those customarily associated with analytic philosophy to those associated with phenomenology and existentialism, deconstruction, critical theory, feminist theory, race theory, and post-colonial theory. Yet, despite the expanse of current interest, philosophers have not fully appreciated the contributions that can be made to questions of responsibility by contemporary hermeneutics. Based on an examination of issues in contemporary hermeneutics, The Responsibility to Understand makes a novel case for a distinctive experience of responsibility at stake in understanding and interpretation and argues for the significance of this hermeneutical responsibility in the context of our relations with things, animals, and others, as well as of political solidarity and the formation of political solidarities through the arts, literature, and translation. The Responsibility to Understand thus pushes current debate in hermeneutics and continental Ethics in groundbreaking new directions.