In traditional semantics, the human body tends to be ignored in the process of constructing meaning. Horst Ruthrof argues, by contrast, that the body is an integral part of this hermeneutic activity. Strictly language-based theories, and theories which conflate formal and natural languages, run into problems when they describe how we communicate in cultural settings. Semantics and the Body proposes that language is no more than a symbolic grid which does not signify at all unless it is brought to life by non-linguistic signs.

Ruthrof reviews and analyses various 'orthodox'...

Language and Imaginability pursues the hypothesis that natural language is fundamentally heterosemiotic, combining as it does the symbolicity of word sounds with the iconicity of motivated signifieds conceived as socially organized mental events. Viewed phenomenologically, language is regarded as an ontically heteronomous construct performed by speakers within the boundaries of sufficient semiosis under the control of the speech community. From both angles, a commitment to some form of intersubjective mentalism appears unavoidable. This, the author argues, forces us to conclude that...

This book challenges the standard view that modern hermeneutics begins with Friedrich Ast and Friedrich Schleiermacher, arguing instead that it is the dialectic of reflective and teleological reason in Kant’sCritique of Judgmentthat provides the actual proto-hermeneutic foundation. It is revolutionary in doing so by replacing interpretive truth claims by the more appropriate claim of rendering opaque contextsintelligible. Taking Gadamer’s comprehensive analysis of hermeneutics inTruth and Method(1960) as its point of departure, the book turns to Kant’s Critiques, reviewing his major...