Join us in Auerbach 320 or online this Wednesday, April 10, from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m., for our next meeting of the Philosophy Club as Mark Sheridan discusses the hermeneutic epistemology of 20th century philosopher Hans Georg Gadamer.
To join the meeting online, click here (you may be prompted to download the Webex app in order to join). If you have trouble joining, call Brian Skelly at 413.273.2273.
Hans Georg Gadamer was one of the most influential, if lesser known, philosophers of the 20th Century. He made important contributions to aesthetics, linguistics, and ethics; but in this hour we are going to explore his major contribution to epistemology: a detailed analysis of how understanding occurs. To explain the processes of understanding, Gadamer borrowed a framework from biblical scholarship: the hermeneutic circle. Key concepts include the important roles played by preconceptions, questions, dialogs, and Others. Gadamer’s insights into how events of understanding are created are particularly relevant in today’s world of polarized political views and violent conflicts.
Mark Sheridan is a retired managing director of J.P. Morgan & Co. and former treasurer of the Connecticut Poetry Society. Having lived and worked on four continents, he then turned his attention to teaching at-risk inner-city high school students. In 2002, he earned a PhD at Drew University of New Jersey in Intellectual History.
An ongoing weekly tradition at the University since 2001, the University of Hartford Philosophy Club is a place where students, professors, and people from the community at large meet as peers. Sometimes presentations are given, followed by discussion. Other times, topics are hashed out by the whole group.
Presenters may be students, professors, or people from the community. Anyone can offer to present a topic. The mode of presentation may be as formal or informal as the presenter chooses.
Food and drink are served. Come and go as you wish. Bring friends. Suggest topics and activities. Take over the club! It belongs to you!