Hermeneutics and the Human Sciences
Essays on Language, Action and Interpretation

John B. Thompson's collection of translated essays forms an illuminating introduction to Paul Ricoeur's prolific contributions to sociological theory.

Paul Ricoeur (Author), John B. Thompson (Edited and translated by)

9781107144972, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 26 August 2016

284 pages
23.4 x 15.6 x 2 cm, 0.58 kg

'[Ricoeur] does capture a quite crucial point of Peirce's concept of interpretation: its 'synechistic' nature, namely the continuous, non-extrinsic character of the relationship between (to use Ricoeur's terminology) 'tradition' - what a text or other forms of discourse signify (tradit) - and 'interpretation' - what it evokes in the mind of the interpreter.' Francesco Poggiani , Phenomenological Reviews

Collected and translated by John B. Thompson, this collection of essays by Paul Ricoeur includes many that had never appeared in English before the volume's publication in 1981. As comprehensive as it is illuminating, this lucid introduction to Ricoeur's prolific contributions to sociological theory features his more recent writings on the history of hermeneutics, its central themes and issues, his own constructive position and its implications for sociology, psychoanalysis and history. Presented in a fresh twenty-first-century series livery, and including a specially commissioned preface written by Charles Taylor, illuminating its enduring importance and relevance to philosophical enquiry, this classic work has been revived for a new generation of readers.

Preface to this edition Charles Taylor
Acknowledgements
Editor's introduction
Notes on editing and translating
A response Paul Ricoeur
Part I. Studies in the History of Hermeneutics: 1. The task of hermeneutics
2. Hermeneutics and the critique of ideology
3. Phenomenology and hermeneutics
Part II. Studies in the Theory of Interpretation: 4. The hermeneutical function of distanciation
5. What is a text? Explanation and understanding
6. Metaphor and the central problem of hermeneutics
7. Appropriation
Part III. Studies in the Philosophy of Social Science: 8. The model of the text: meaningful action considered as a text
9. Science and ideology
10. The question of proof in Freud's psychoanalytic writings
11. The narrative function
Notes
Select bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Philosophy of science [PDA], Social & political philosophy [HPS]