Abstract

Paul Gorner must be commended for a masterful exposition of some of the major trends and thinkers of the German tradition of the twentieth century. He seeks out what would comprise a unique mode of philosophizing of the German tradition. He finds this mode to consist of a specific influence and reading of Kant at the level of transcendental philosophy and its attendant debates. Indeed, the author constantly refers various trends and thinkers to Kantian problematic of the constitution of transcendental conditions of experience, ethics, and the thing in itself. This includes the issues of egological solipsism, the problems of communal participation in various epistemic ventures, and the question of presuppositions. While the text is written to emphasize the transcendental trend, it also shows the intrinsic issues and challenges to this trend in German tradition, specifically with respect to the questions of transcendental consciousness, Being, history, interpretation, and language.