Response to Alejandro

Gianni Vattimo

Santiago Zabala

pp. 259-261

in: Silvia Mazzini, Owen Glyn-Williams (eds), Making communism hermeneutical, Berlin, Springer, 2017

Abstract

In 1993, Alejandro published Hermeneutics, Citizenship, and the Public Sphere, which is one of the first studies in English that questioned the common interpretation that Hans-Georg Gadamer's hermeneutics is the expression of a conservative political project. This is a book we read with great enthusiasm and used considerably while working on Hermeneutic Communism. It is rare to find a political theorist interested in hermeneutics, but as his other books indicate (Nietzsche and the Drama of Historiobiography and The Limits of Rawlsian Justice), he always maintained a direct interest in hermeneutic thinkers and problems. This is also evident in his contribution, which critically questions a number of arguments, problems, and views we develop. In the limited space we have, our response will focus on the political consequences of hermeneutics as they seem to be the central issues which Alejandro questions.

Cited authors

Nietzsche Friedrich

Gadamer Hans-Georg