Is community possible within culturally diverse societies? As humanity becomes increasingly interconnected through globalisation, this question is once more of concern in contemporary thought. Simpson traces the debate thorough the works of Arnold, Herder, Adorno, Habermas and others and proposes an alternative that bridges cultural differences without erasing them. He argues that in order to achieve cross-cultural understanding we must establish common aesthetic and ethical standards which incorporate sensitivity to difference.

"Technology, Time and the Conversations of Modernity" takes as its impetus the idea that technology is an embodiment of our uneasiness with finitude. Lorenzo Simpson shows how technology has succeeded in granting our wish to domesticate time. He addresses the consequences of this attitude for our self-understanding and for our ability to discover differences and discern meaning in our lives. By confronting issues raised in the various theoretical discourses concerning modernity with those engendered by a critical assessment of technology, Simpson elaborates a systematic critique of technological rationality. In the course of this, he provides a critique of philosophical nihilism, an account of the affinities between postmodern sensibilities and the technological attitude toward the world - illustrated by a discussion of Virtual Reality technology - as well as critical discussion of the work of Rorty, Habermas, MacIntyre and Sabina Lovibond.

"Technology, Time and the Conversations of Modernity" takes as its impetus the idea that technology is an embodiment of our uneasiness with finitude. Lorenzo Simpson shows how technology has succeeded in granting our wish to domesticate time. He addresses the consequences of this attitude for our self-understanding and for our ability to discover differences and discern meaning in our lives. By confronting issues raised in the various theoretical discourses concerning modernity with those engendered by a critical assessment of technology, Simpson elaborates a systematic critique of technological rationality. In the course of this, he provides a critique of philosophical nihilism, an account of the affinities between postmodern sensibilities and the technological attitude toward the world - illustrated by a discussion of Virtual Reality technology - as well as critical discussion of the work of Rorty, Habermas, MacIntyre and Sabina Lovibond.

Hermeneutics has frequently been dismissed as useful only for literary and textual analysis. Some consider it to be Eurocentric or inherently relativistic and thus unsuited to social critique. Lorenzo C. Simpson offers a persuasive and powerful argument that hermeneutics is a valuable tool not only for critical theory but also for robustly addressing many of the urgent issues of today. Simpson demonstrates that hermeneutics exhibits significant interpretive advantages compared to competing explanatory modalities. While it shares with pragmatism a suspicion of essentialism, an understanding that disagreements are situated, and an insistence on the dialogical nature of understanding, it nevertheless resolutely rejects the relativistic accounts of rationality that are often associated with pragmatism. In the tradition of Gadamer, Simpson firmly establishes hermeneutics as a resource for both philosophy and the social sciences. He shows its utility for unpacking intractable issues in the philosophy of science, multiculturalism, social epistemology, and racial and social justice in the global arena. Simpson addresses fraught questions such as why recent claims that "race" has a biological basis lack grounding, whether female genital excision can be critically addressed without invidious ethnocentrism, and how to lay the foundations for meaningful cross-cultural dialogue and reparative justice. This book reveals how hermeneutics can be a worthy partner with critical theory in achieving emancipatory aims.

Is community possible within culturally diverse societies? As humanity becomes increasingly interconnected through globalisation, this question is once more of concern in contemporary thought. Simpson traces the debate thorough the works of Arnold, Herder, Adorno, Habermas and others and proposes an alternative that bridges cultural differences without erasing them. He argues that in order to achieve cross-cultural understanding we must establish common aesthetic and ethical standards which incorporate sensitivity to difference.

Hermeneutics has frequently been dismissed as useful only for literary and textual analysis. Some consider it to be Eurocentric or inherently relativistic and thus unsuited to social critique. Lorenzo C. Simpson offers a persuasive and powerful argument that hermeneutics is a valuable tool not only for critical theory but also for robustly addressing many of the urgent issues of today. Simpson demonstrates that hermeneutics exhibits significant interpretive advantages compared to competing explanatory modalities. While it shares with pragmatism a suspicion of essentialism, an understanding that disagreements are situated, and an insistence on the dialogical nature of understanding, it nevertheless resolutely rejects the relativistic accounts of rationality that are often associated with pragmatism. In the tradition of Gadamer, Simpson firmly establishes hermeneutics as a resource for both philosophy and the social sciences. He shows its utility for unpacking intractable issues in the philosophy of science, multiculturalism, social epistemology, and racial and social justice in the global arena. Simpson addresses fraught questions such as why recent claims that "race" has a biological basis lack grounding, whether female genital excision can be critically addressed without invidious ethnocentrism, and how to lay the foundations for meaningful cross-cultural dialogue and reparative justice. This book reveals how hermeneutics can be a worthy partner with critical theory in achieving emancipatory aims.