ABSTRACT
As Thomas McCarthy reminds us, traditional foundationalist philosophy was defined by 'the Cartesian paradigm of the solitary thinker'. As is well known, this 'monological approach' was characterized by its commitment to a search for secure foundations, by a subject-object divide and a representational theory of knowledge. Foucault's inclusion is especially appropriate given his frequent identification as an important dialogue partner with both Habermas and Gadamer in the debate about contemporary reason. In sum through progressively delineating the contours of a hermeneutically inspired dialogical response to the contemporary rationality problem, the present project seeks actively to contribute to completing the break with the 'philosophy of the subject', and thereby finally dispelling a burdensome 'Cartesian anxiety'. Enriched by the constitutive features of the sort identified, the resultant conception of the hermeneutic inquiry would be much better positioned to secure its critical efficacy.
