More Radical Hermeneutics: On Not Knowing Who We Are

In this latest work, Caputo claims that we are not born into this world hard-wired to know Being, Truth or the Good, and we are not vessels of a Divine, or other omnipotent supernatural force. We have not been chosen as earthly instruments and there is no supreme Secret to which some have been given privileged access: we make our way through the world searching for meaning and structure in hope of finding meaning in our factical lives. But this is not all bad news. According to Caputo, the necessity of interpretation is the absolute and unconditional secret that radicalizes hermeneutics, opens interpretations and perspectives, and prevents the dominance of any one point of view. Focusing on how various contemporary philosophers - Foucault, Derrida, Rorty, Cornell, Marion, Gadamer and Heidegger - develop aspects of this fragmented view of the life world in areas such as madness, friendship, democracy, gender, science, the end of ethics , religion and mysticism, this animated study by one of America’s leading continental philosophers equally tears down and resuscitates religion and philosophy.