Interpreting Dilthey
Critical Essays

Examines Dilthey's hermeneutics, aesthetics, practical philosophy, and philosophy of history, showing how his work remains relevant for philosophers today.

Eric S. Nelson (Edited by)

9781107589667, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 8 April 2021

297 pages
22.7 x 15 x 1.6 cm, 0.43 kg

In this wide-ranging and authoritative volume, leading scholars engage with the philosophy and writings of Wilhelm Dilthey, a key figure in nineteenth-century thought. Their chapters cover his innovative philosophical strategies and explore how they can be understood in relation to their historical situation, as well as presenting incisive interpretations of Dilthey's arguments, including their development, their content, and their influence on later thought. A key focus is on how Dilthey's work remains relevant to current debates around art and literature, the biographical and autobiographical self, knowledge, language, science, culture, history, society, and psychology and the embodied mind. The volume will be important for researchers in hermeneutics, aesthetics, practical philosophy, and the history of German philosophy, providing a valuable introduction to Dilthey's work as well as detailed critical analysis of its ongoing significance.

Introduction: Wilhelm Dilthey in context Eric S. Nelson
Part I. Life, Hermeneutics, and Science: 1. Dilthey's conception of purposiveness: its Kantian basis and hermeneutical function Rudolf A. Makkreel
2. Leben erfaßt hier Leben: Dilthey as a philosopher of (the) life (sciences) Jos de Mul
3. Dilthey's importance for hermeneutics Michael N. Forster
4. Hermeneutics and historicity: Dilthey's critique of historical reason Charles Bambach
5. Dilthey's defense of historicism Frederick C. Beiser
6. More than one 'kind' of science? Implications of Dilthey's hermeneutics for science studies Robert C. Scharff
Part II. Practical Philosophy, Aesthetics, and Interpretation: 7. Dilthey and empathy Shaun Gallagher
8. Dilthey's ethical theory Benjamin Crowe
9. Dilthey's dream and the struggle of world-views Nicolas de Warren
10. A task most pressing: Dilthey's philosophy of the novel and his rewriting of modern aesthetics Kristin Gjesdal
11. Experience and metaphysics: the anti-Hegelian aesthetics of Dilthey and Santayana Paul Guyer
12. Dilthey and Wittgenstein: understanding understanding Lee Braver
13. Dilthey's hermeneutics and philosophical hermeneutics Jean Grondin.

Subject Areas: Western philosophy: c 1600 to c 1900 [HPCD], History of Western philosophy [HPC], Philosophy [HP], Humanities [H]