In "Tradition(s) II", Stephen H. Watson engages post-Kantian continental philosophy in his continuing investigation into the concept of tradition which he began in his work, "Tradition(s)". According to Watson, the problem of tradition became explicit in 20th-century philosophy, and is especially apparent in the work of Heidegger, Gadamer, Husserl, Benjamin, Adorno, Levinas, Kristeva, and Derrida, among others. By formulating a series of dialogues between these philosophers and their predecessors, Watson articulates the issues and concerns surrounding tradition and traditionality. Taking on topics such as the hermeneutics of the self, the rationality of tradition, the pluralistic nature of historical interpretation, and the question of the "other", Watson emphasizes the importance of classical accounts of ethical and political discourse for contemporary philosophy and today's multicultural world. Watson extends his analysis of tradition to include the problems of meaning and narrative and the nature of the self. He also considers the meaning of the Good and how Good is dispensed in the world. By questioning past philosophical narratives and their influence on modern and postmodern philosophy, Watson aims to bring fresh perspective to the complex meanings of tradition for a pluralistic world.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction A. On the Inordinance of Our Time: The Effects of Detraditionalization and the Non-Contemporaneity of the Present B. The Koini of the Hermeneutic C. Self-understanding, the Inconvenience of History, and the Tasks of Reinterpretation D Summary I. Interpretation, Dialogue, and Friendship: The Remainder of Community A. The Fragmentation of Tradition B. The Refiguration of the Past and the Between of Care: Interpretation and the Leveling of the Everyday C. On the Reckoning of Accounts: Between Invocation and Assertion D. The Dis-possession of Dialogue and the Symbolics of Law E. The Remnants of Friendship F. Polylogue: Beyond 'the Paradise of Decoreous Idealism.' II. The Respect for Law: Civility, Irony, and the Emergence of Hermeneutic Modernity A. Regulation, Iterability, and the Antinomies of Power: On the Modern Conception of Law B. Towards A Genealogy of Interpretation: Between Tradition and Oblivion C. Narrative, Trope, and History: Another Way of Philosophizing D. Contract, Transcendence, and Community: Modern Averroism and the Politics of the Everyday E. The Differentiation of Transcendence and the Politics of the 'Empty Place.' F. Hermeneutics, Sovereignty, and the Machinations of Power: On the Unwieldiness of Civility III. On Levinas, The Ethics of Deconstruction, and the Reinterpretations of the Sublime A. Deconstruction, the Requisites of Reason, and the Morality of Obligation B. Phenomenology, the Horizons of Intentionality, and the "Rationality [that] Gleams Forth in the Face to Face." C. The Legacy of the Divided Subject and a Good Beyond the Eidos of the Beautiful D. The 'Ought,' the Unpresentable, and the Difference that a Voice Makes E. 'Discrete Fraternity,' Pluralism, and the Complications of an Unresolved History IV. Person and E-vent: On Fragmented Transcendence A. Personalism, the Closure of Moral Theory, and the Remnants of the Sacred B. On the Origins of the Concept of Person C. The Declension of the Person, the Figures of the Self, and the Absolute of Self-Certainty D. Alteritas Personarum E. The Sublime and the Ordinary: On Dialogue, Narrativity, and Plurality F. Beyond Obligationism, the Venture of Generosity, and the "Exposure to Critique." G. Ethics as Transcendental H. A Final vis-a- vis with Aristotle: On the (Im)possibility of Reciprocity and the aporiae of Recognition V. On the Dispensation of the Good A. The Paradox of the Good B. The Permutations of Law, the Voice of Conscience, and the Limitations of the Said C. Saving the Appearances: Phenomenology, the Conflict of Interpretation, and the Ruins of the Ordinary D. Beyond the Theatrum Philosophicum: The "Mixed Message" of Modern Systematics. E. On 'Humanism,' the After-effects of Tradition and the Ethos of Care Notes Index