This conference would like to engage with one specific context among all those which were and still are, as it were, “affected” by philosophical hermeneutics: the Islamicate context. The Islamicate context seems to be particularly relevant for three reasons at least:
1) The Islamicate context is intertwined with the Western context in a way that calls for asking whether the application or the import of philosophical hermeneutics in general does or does not require a minimum of shared history, and whether one should speak – in the particular Islamicate context – either of a cultural or a conceptual transfer only?
2) The Islamicate context retains a clear and sound reference to religion that makes its entanglement with philosophical hermeneutics a burning challenge for all parties involved. Is it true, as some contend since several decades, that philosophical hermeneutics can help interpreting Islamic thought anew?
3) The Islamicate context and the Western context are not just intertwined, but they are also penetrating each other. How does philosophical hermeneutics contribute to their mutual understanding?