Understanding is confronted with misunderstanding and the limits of sense. Hermeneutics deals with the principles of interpretation as well as with the experience of non-sense and the limits of understanding.

Understanding is a way of dealing with something we do not understand, a concentration on the boundaries of sense. There are three key questions which determine the measurement of the scope of understanding. One of these is the question of the objects and the forms of understanding and the extent to which language forms the basis for sense and understanding, or if extralinguistic expressions (gestures, images, music) make understandable sense. The second question pertains to the forms in which we encounter the other aspect of sense as non-meaningful and foreign, as incomprehensible, senseless and paradoxical. The third question deals with the interdependence of understanding and self-understanding. Humans are not only beings who understand, but also beings who communicate to each other about themselves and who in understanding themselves are confronted with sensory gaps and limitations of understanding.

Autorentext
Geboren 1946; Studium der Philosophie, Soziologie und Volkswirtschaftslehre in Löwen und Heidelberg; 1976 Promotion; 1983 Habilitation; Professor für Philosophie an der Universität Basel.

Inhalt
Einleitung
Drei Leitfragen - Die Idee einer negativen Hermeneutik des Selbst
I: Der Raum des Verstehens
Der Begriff des Sinns - Die Differenz des Verstehens - Der Ort des Sinns - Die Welt des Lebens - Der Sinn des Leibes: Inkarnierter Sinn - Sprache und Sinn - Außersprachlicher Sinn - Die kulturelle Welt
II: Grenzen des Verstehens
Der Sinn und sein Anderes - Das Sinnfremde: Sinnhafter und nicht-sinnhafter Weltbezug - Das Unverständliche: Verdeckter und verzerrter Sinn - Widersinn und Negativität
III: Das Verstehen des Menschen
Die Frage nach dem Menschen - Hermeneutik des Selbst - Negative Anthropologie und Hermeneutik