For those interested, some of our members have launched a new site, Hermeneutical Movements, which is devoted to hermeneutic philosophy. The site is still “in flux,” but new content will be added regularly.
One of our members, Dr. Carolyn Culbertson, has recently published her first book, Words Underway: Continental Philosophy of Language. Congratulations, Carolyn. Below is a brief description of the book from Rowman and Littlefield.
Words Underway offers the first full account of the important contributions the Continental tradition has made to the philosophy of language. Carolyn Culbertson examines the vital work of a range of thinkers, including Heidegger, Gadamer, Blanchot, and Kristeva. The book argues that Continental theorists are particularly helpful in recognizing our unique potential for becoming alienated from some discourse. At the same time, Culbertson argues that Continental philosophy of language tends not to treat the alienated relationship to language as something absolute. For most Continental theorists, at least, language is a living system, that is, a system maintained by undergoing constant expansion and transformation by language users. The book goes on to explore the attention Continental theorists have given to the way that forms of political power, for example, gender dynamics in communication, can sometimes thwart this process and thus reinforce alienation. This book will transform the reader’s sense of what the philosophy of language is about and will attract the attention of students and scholars of both philosophy of language and the Continental tradition.
9:00-10:00
“Historical Materialism as Hermeneutics
in Herbert Marcuse,” Oscar A. Ralda
(Department of Philosophy, University of Oregon)
10:15–11:15 Invited Paper: “Decolonial African Thought and Hermeneutics,” Michael
Stern (German and Scandinavian Studies, University of Oregon)
11:30–12:30 Key Note I: “Understanding and the
Political: Lessons from Arendt and Gadamer,”
James Risser (Seattle University)
LUNCH
1:30 Words of Welcome, Dean and
Head of Department
1:45–2:45 Invited Paper: “Accounting
for an Assumed Responsibility,” Peter Warnek (Department of Philosophy,
University of Oregon)
3:00–4:00 Key
Note II: “Diversifying
the Canon of Hermeneutics”? Kristin
Gjesdal (Temple University)
Reception 6:00–7:30, Civic Winery
Friday, Oct. 4, University of Oregon Library, Browsing Room
9:00–10:00 “Interpretation in
Kristeva’s ‘Psychoanalysis and the Polis’,” Ricardo Friaz
(Department of Philosophy, University of Oregon)
10:10–11:10Hans George Gadamer Essay Prize: “Hermeneutic Justice in Miranda Fricker and Hannah Arendt,” Magnus Ferguson (Boston College)
11:15–12:15 Key Note III:
“Interpreting Silence?” Charles Scott (Penn. State)
LUNCH
1:15–2:15 “Gadamer and the
Nature of Language: Hermeneutics and Chinese Aesthetics,” Andrew Fuyarchuk (Hanson College,
Yorkville University)
2:30- 3:30 Invited Paper: “Folds and Fragments of the Desert: Lineages of ‘Border
Arte’,” Omar Rivera (South Western University, Texas)
3:45 Business Meeting
Open Dinner
Saturday, Oct. 5, Graduate School Lounge, Susan Campbell Hall
10:00–11:00 Panel Session: 1. “Hermeneutics … Beyond
Philosophy,” Abram Fernandez (University of Oregon); 2. “Ethical
Hermeneutics/Hermeneutical Ethics: Some Reflections on a Pedagogy of Kindness,“
Caroline Lundquist (University of Oregon); 3. “Art of Interpreting Landscapes,” Annie Ring
(University of Oregon).
11:15–12:15 Invited Paper: “Hermeneutic Practice: What Gadamer has to Teach
Nursing,” Nancy Moules (University of Calgary, Chair of the Canadian
Hermeneutic Institute)
LUNCH
University of Oregon Library, Browsing Room
1:30–2:30 What Gets Fused in Fusion of Horizons,” Greg Lynch (North Central College)
2:45–3:45 Invited Paper: “Nietzsche and History,”
Jason Winfree (California State University)
4:00–5:00 Book Session: Words Underway:
Continental Philosophy of Language by Carolyn Culbertson (Florida Golf
Coast University): David
Vessey (Grand Valley State University) and Jessica Elkayam (Sam Houston State
University)
Dear NASPH members, this is the information for the hotel for the conference in Eugene 3-5 October. You will also find flight information.
Please call and make reservations at the hotel of your choice as soon as possible. We have three home games in a row, so Saturday will be booked quickly.
Best Western New Oregon, 1655 Franklin Blvd 541-683-3669 $171 per night plus taxes
University Inn & Suites, 1857 Franklin Blvd 541-342-4804 $152 per night plus taxes
Days Inn by Wyndam Eugene, 1859 Franklin Blvd 541-342-6383 $152 per night plus taxes
Best Western Greentree Inn, 1759 Franklin Blvd 541-485-2727 $152 per night plus taxes
Graduate Eugene (Formerly Hilton), 66 E 6th Avenue 541-342-2000 $232 per night plus taxes
These prices are subject to change of course, but these are the prices listed for Oct 3-6, 2019 as of today.
You should fly into Eugene, there are flights that connect with main airports, such as Seattle, L.A., Chicago, and Denver. Depending on the hotel you will have a 20-minute taxi ride or a hotel shuttle. Another option is to fly into Portland. The airport is on the Northside of the city, so you are looking at a two-hour car ride to Eugene. There is a shuttle from the airport to Eugene, but it runs at specific times (https://groometransportation.com/portland-airport/).
Sessions will take place on campus. Locations TBA. We will have the program for you shortly.
With best wishes, and looking forward to seeing you soon in Oregon,
NORTH AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR PHILOSOPHICAL HERMENEUTICS
14th Annual Meeting, October 3-5, 2019
Keynote Speakers:
Kristin Gjesdal (Temple University) Charles Scott (Penn State) James Risser (Seattle University)
Papers on all themes related to philosophical hermeneutics are welcome. Sessions will consist of 30-minute presentations of papers followed by discussion. In the spirit of dialogue and meaningful reflection, presenters will be invited to make their papers available to be read in advance. While time to present papers is limited, submissions may be between 3,000 and 5,000 words. Papers in English, formatted for blind review, must be submitted electronically to nasphermeneutics@gmail.com. Attachments in .doc, .pdf, or .rtf format are preferable. The new extended submission deadline is June 15, 2019. Papers by graduate students on relevant themes will be considered for the Hans-Georg Gadamer Essay Prize. Please indicate if you wish to be considered. Lastly, direct inquiries about the conference and the society to avallega@uoregon.edu or consult our website at http://www.nasph.org.
North American Society for Philosophical Hermeneutics
14th Annual Meeting, October 3–5, 2019, University of Oregon
Keynote Speakers: Kristin Gjesdal (Temple University) Charles Scott (Penn State) James Risser (Seattle University)
Papers on all themes related to philosophical hermeneutics are welcome. Sessions will consist of 30-minute presentations of papers followed by discussion. In the spirit of dialogue and meaningful reflection, presenters will be invited to make their papers available to be read in advance. While time to present papers is limited, submissions may be between 3,000 and 5,000 words. Papers in English, formatted for blind review, must be submitted electronically to nasphermeneutics@gmail.com. Attachments in .doc, .pdf, or .rtf format are preferable. The new extended submission deadline is June 22, 2019. Papers by graduate students on relevant themes will be considered for the Hans-Georg Gadamer Essay Prize. Please indicate if you wish to be considered. Lastly, direct inquiries about the conference and the society to avallega@uoregon.edu or consult our website at http://www.nasph.org.
NASPH was formed in 2005 in order to
further the study of philosophical hermeneutics and to foster dialogue in light
of difference. While honoring the rootedness of philosophical hermeneutics in
the work of Hans-Georg Gadamer we find that the force and value of
philosophical hermeneutics lie in the development of dialogue that brings life
to history and illuminates contemporary issues.
A call for papers/submissions for an upcoming special edition of the journal Philosophies on hermeneutic ethics can be found here.
Special Issue Information
What can we say about an ethics grounded in hermeneutics? Most fundamentally, hermeneutics is concerned with the problems of interpretation and understanding. Historically, hermeneutics was concerned with theories for correctly interpreting and understanding texts. Philosophical hermeneutics is the study of the assumptions and pre-judgments (the fore-structures of understanding) undergirding what we take to be the case about the world, about ourselves, and about others. That is, philosophical hermeneutics is a form of meta-philosophy. Hermeneutic ethics captures the tension often thought to exist between the idea that ethical questions are best answered on a case-by-case basis and the idea that some sort of universal moral truths do indeed exist (and, accordingly should be heeded). From a hermeneutical point of view, ethical questions (like all questions) are situated (that is, bound by the context from which they arise), but at the same time – and to the extent that we are all intimately connected not only with each other but with the world(s) we inhabit in dynamic and irrevocable ways — an ethics grounded in hermeneutics entails a profound commitment to the welfare of others as well as a way to assess the relative value of different ethical decisions.
In
this issue, papers are invited on the topic of an ethics grounded in
hermeneutics, broadly construed. Possible questions and issues to be addressed
are (1) whether an ethics grounded in hermeneutics is possible, (2) the
relationship between what ethics is and what hermeneutics is, (3) how the
ethics of key hermeneuticists or hermeneutic philosophers might be compared and
contrasted, (4) an exploration of the concept of Mitsein (or Being-with),
(5) the role of community in an ethics grounded in hermeneutics, (6) the extent
to which hermeneutics, ethics, and philosophy itself are coextensive, (7) the
role of intersubjectivity in ethics, (8) the role of tradition in
ethics, (9) ethics and hermeneutic dialogue, (10) hermeneutics and the other,
(11) the relationship between power dynamics and the possibility of
(productive) hermeneutic dialogue, (12) the possibility of hermeneutically
correcting for the power dynamics in human dialogue, (13) what a
hermeneutically legitimate ethical decision-making process might look like, and
(14) any other related topic.
The conference program for the 2018 NASPH conference in Naperville, IL is now available for download. You may access the conference program and conference poster here. (We hope to have our new website up and running in the next few months. Until then, our apologies for the two-step download process.)
Dennis Schmidt, Western Sydney University, “What are hermeneuts for?”
Followed by a roundtable discussion with:
Peg Birmingham, DePaul University; Theodore George, Texas A&M University; James Risser, Seattle University; Charles Scott, Pennsylvania State University; Anne O’Byrne, Stony Brook University; Alejandro A. Vallega, University of Oregon.
