"A fascinating and timely treatment of the objectivism versus relativism debates occurring in philosophy of science, literary theory, the social sciences, political science, and elsewhere."--Choice
Table of Contents
PREFACEACKNOWLEDGMENTS PART ONE. BEYOND OBJECTIVISM AND RELATIVISM: AN OVERVIEWObjectivism and RelativismThe Cartesian AnxietyPostempiricist Philosophy and History of ScienceThe Idea of a Social ScienceThe Recovery of the Hermeneutical Dimension of SciencePhilosophic Hermeneutics: A Primordial Mode of BeingHermeneutics and PraxisPolitical Judgment and Practical DiscourseScience, Hermeneutics, and Praxis PART TWO. SCIENCE, RATIONALITY, AND INCOMMENSURABILITYThe Practical Rationality of Theory-ChoiceKuhn and His Critics: The Common GroundThe Development of the Philosophy of ScienceIncommensurability and the Natural SciencesIncommensurability and the Social Disciplines PART THREE. FROM HERMENEUTICS TO PRAXISThe Cartesian LegacyTruth and the Experience of ArtUnderstanding and PrejudiceThe Hermeneutical CircleTemporal Distance, Effective-Historical Consciousness, and the Fusion of HorizonsApplication: The Rediscovery of the Fundamental Hermeneutical ProblemThe Movement Beyond Philosophic HermeneuticsPhilosophic Hermeneutics and the Cartesian Anxiety PART FOUR. PRAXIS, PRACTICAL DISCOURSE, AND JUDGMENTA Historical InterludePractical Discourse: HabermasRorty's MetacritiqueJudgment: ArendtBeyond Objectivism and Relativism: The Practical Task NOTESAPPENDIX. A LETTER BY PROFESSOR HANS-GEORG GADAMERBIBLIOGRAPHYSUBJECT INDEXINDEX
