Building on a tradition in which accounts of carnal embodiment are overlooked, misread, or underdeveloped, this book initiates a focus on carnal hermeneutics as such, as distinct field of study and concern. Carnal hermeneutics seeks to provide a philosophical approach to the body as interpretation. It begins with the recognition that human existence requires an art of understanding as well as a science of explanation. The former is rooted in our finite, spatio-temporal being-in-the-world, which calls for an account of meanings involving corporeal sensation, orientation, and linguistic articula ... More

Building on a tradition in which accounts of carnal embodiment are overlooked, misread, or underdeveloped, this book initiates a focus on carnal hermeneutics as such, as distinct field of study and concern. Carnal hermeneutics seeks to provide a philosophical approach to the body as interpretation. It begins with the recognition that human existence requires an art of understanding as well as a science of explanation. The former is rooted in our finite, spatio-temporal being-in-the-world, which calls for an account of meanings involving corporeal sensation, orientation, and linguistic articulation. The resulting hermeneutics transcends the traditional dualism of rational understanding and embodied sensibility, arguing that our most carnal sensations are already interpretations. Therefore, carnal hermeneutics truly goes “all the way down,” rejecting the opposition of language and sensibility, word to flesh, text to body. The essays collected in this volume are committed, each it its own way, to the interpreting the surplus of meaning arising from our carnal embodiment, its role in our experience and understanding, and its engagement with the wider world.