Hermeneutics as Politics (Odeon)
"Perhaps the most original and philosophically important critical account of hermeneutics--of its philosophical status and historical development--to appear since Gadamer'sTruth and Method....Rosen offers a bold, new interpretation of the relationship of postmodernism and postmodernist hermeneutics to the Enlightenment....A major contribution to the current discussion.  Highly recommended."--Choice"Stanley Rosen's essays are a unique combination of reasoned argument and passionate commitment which by their very example reaffirm the ties between philosophy and politics.  This book will be important for anyone who is interested in challenging established dogmas about the nature of hermeneutics and the relationship between modernity and postmodernism."--Anthony J. Cascardi,University of California, Berkeley"A philosophical polemic of the highest order written in a language of unfailing verve and precision....It will repay manyfold the labour of a slow and considered reading."--J.M. Coetzee,Upstream"The pearl of the volume is the brilliant fourth chapter, which ties together the rise of modern scientific thinking, biblical hermeneutics and post-Kantian philosophy in a manner which poignantly shows how the history of modern philosophy has led to a situation in which all thinking is hermeneutical thinking."--Critical Review"Professor Rosen's profound gift to contemporary philosophy is the insight that while claiming to transcend Enlightenment rationalism, 'hermeneutical' interpretation is transcended by it; that to defeat historicism by an attempt to duplicate the ancients is itself to fall victim to historicism; that the Enlightenment provides the 'only solution to its own incoherence.'  Rosen exemplifies the courage that he recognizes as central to the calling of philosophy.  Rosen stands out among his contemporaries as a great philosopher in the great tradition of philosophy."--John Silber,BostonUniversity