The Gadamer Reader: A Bouquet of the Later Writings - Paperback

by Hans-Georg Gadamer (Author), Richard E. Palmer (Editor)

The German volume Gadamer Lesebuch [A Gadamer Reader] (1997), selected and edited by Jean Grondin in consultation with Hans-Georg Gadamer himself, contains a set of essays that present a cross section of writings by one of the twentieth century's greatest philosophers. The volume begins with an autobiographical sketch and culminates in a conversation with Jean Grondin that looks back over a lifetime of productive philosophical work. The essays not already available in English have here been translated by Richard E. Palmer, a respected translator of Gadamer's writings. The sixteen essays contained in the Lesebuch are augmented here by three other essays: Gadamer's last essay on Derrida, "Hermeneutics Tracking the Trace" (1994) and two essays on practical philosophy. The Gadamer Reader: A Bouquet of the Later Writings richly conveys the scope and depth of Gadamer's thought, covering the range of his work in hermeneutics, aesthetics, practical philosophy, and essays on Plato, Hegel, and Heidegger. In addition, Palmer offers introductory remarks before each essay that explain its importance in the context of Gadamer's writings and define its key terms. Throughout, in both his translation and commentary, his aim is to make this critically important philosopher as clear and accessible as possible to an English-speaking audience.

Author Biography

Richard E. Palmer is President Joseph P. Harker Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and Religion and Hermeneutics Scholar in Residence at MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Illinois. His previous books include Gadamer inConversation: Reflections and Commentary (Yale, 2001) and Hermeneutics: Interpretation Theory in Schleiermacher, Dilthey, Heidegger, and Gadamer (Northwestern, 1969), which has been translated into Spanish, Turkish, Chinese, and Farsi. He has also co-translated and co-edited with Diane P. Michelfelder the essays in Dialogue and Deconstruction: The Gadamer-Derrida Encounter (SUNY, 1989).