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The Power of Dialogue: Critical Hermeneutics After Gadamer and Foucault
translated by Paul Hendrickson
Exemplifying a fruitful fusion of French and German approaches to social theory, The Power of Dialogue transforms Habermas's version of critical theory into a new "critical hermeneutics" that builds on both Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics and Foucault's studies of power and discourse.
Kogler argues for a middle way between Gadamer's concept of interpretation as dialogue (which has been faulted for its strong focus on the agent's own self-understanding) and Foucault's conceptualization of the structure of discourse and the practices of power (which has been faulted for neglecting the role of individual subjectivity and freedom in social interaction).
At the book's core is the question of how social power shapes and influences meaning and how the process of interpretation, while implicated in social forms of power, can nevertheless achieve reflective distance and a critique of power. It offers an original perspective on such issues as the impact of prejudice and cultural background on scientific interpretation, the need to understand others without assimilating their otherness, and the "truth" of interpretation.
Exemplifying a fruitful fusion of French and German approaches to social theory, The Power of Dialogue transforms Habermas's version of critical theory into a new "critical hermeneutics" that builds on both Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics and Foucault's studies of power and discourse.
Kogler argues for a middle way between Gadamer's concept of interpretation as dialogue (which has been faulted for its strong focus on the agent's own self-understanding) and Foucault's conceptualization of the structure of discourse and the practices of power (which has been faulted for neglecting the role of individual subjectivity and freedom in social interaction).
At the book's core is the question of how social power shapes and influences meaning and how the process of interpretation, while implicated in social forms of power, can nevertheless achieve reflective distance and a critique of power. It offers an original perspective on such issues as the impact of prejudice and cultural background on scientific interpretation, the need to understand others without assimilating their otherness, and the "truth" of interpretation.
322 pages, Hardcover
First published October 15, 1996
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April 10, 2018
This is an extremely insightful book that attempts, with some degree of success, to fuse the methodological concerns, approaches, and constraints of Gadamer's phenomenological hermeneutics with Foucault's critical genealogy.
The general argument is that through engaging with open dialogue with the other, we can make steps toward a kind of self-distanciation which allows to critically engage with our own symbolic complexes and power structures through the gaze of the other. This creates a kind of hermeneutical reflexivity which both embraces our situatedness while opening up avenues for recognizing implicit assumptions and preunderstanding that constitute that situatedness.
Kogler's critiques of Gadamer's hermeneutics are astute and well-put. After reading this, I cannot consider myself a Gadamerian to the extent that I could after initially reading Truth and Method, but this is a good thing because it helps to advance the dialogue.
However, I do not find myself entirely convinced by Kogler's arguments. I am still concerned that the idea of an attempt at self-distanciation and reaching self-understanding by putting oneself in the conceptual-praxiological shoes of the other still smacks of Schleiermacher a little too much. What is the extent that we can immerse ourselves in the perspective of the other? How does that process occur through dialogue?
The general argument is that through engaging with open dialogue with the other, we can make steps toward a kind of self-distanciation which allows to critically engage with our own symbolic complexes and power structures through the gaze of the other. This creates a kind of hermeneutical reflexivity which both embraces our situatedness while opening up avenues for recognizing implicit assumptions and preunderstanding that constitute that situatedness.
Kogler's critiques of Gadamer's hermeneutics are astute and well-put. After reading this, I cannot consider myself a Gadamerian to the extent that I could after initially reading Truth and Method, but this is a good thing because it helps to advance the dialogue.
However, I do not find myself entirely convinced by Kogler's arguments. I am still concerned that the idea of an attempt at self-distanciation and reaching self-understanding by putting oneself in the conceptual-praxiological shoes of the other still smacks of Schleiermacher a little too much. What is the extent that we can immerse ourselves in the perspective of the other? How does that process occur through dialogue?
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review