ABSTRACT
As the theory of interpretation in general, hermeneutics has a long, complex history. In a tradition that is conveniently earmarked as running from Schleiermacher through Dilthey and Heidegger to Gadamer and Ricoeur, hermeneutics shows continuity through considerable diversity in content. But I shall not, to any serious degree, be dealing with the variety of hermeneutics in this historical sense. 1 Nor, despite my ambition to contribute something worthwhile to the field, shall I be concerned primarily with the multiple manifestations of hermeneutics in current literary, cultural and art theory. 2 Rather, I shall use the term ‘hermeneutics’ to stand for various patterns of contemporary philosophical argument occasioned by reflection upon the bearing of contingency on the intelligibility of moral identity.
