“More than enriching or clarifying issues in current debates, James Risser's work pushes hermeneutics toward a genuinely new stage of development.”
 — Theodore George, Texas A&M University

“In Gadamer’s hermeneutics, interpretation is inseparable from the broader concern of making one’s way in life. James Risser builds on this insight about the juxtaposition of human living and the act of understanding by tracing hermeneutics back to the basic experience of philosophy as defined by Plato. ”

“The brevity of the book as a whole and the shortness of each piece . . . and the fact that they are only loosely connected is one of its great strengths. . . . Each piece is a real hermeneutic treat with rich, suggestive, and non-reductive analyses that in their content and methodology resist the simple summary that is of necessity, unfortunately, called for in a review. ”
 — Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

“Risser's style is clear and engaging without falling into the jargon of the theorists with whom he is working. . . . Recommended.”
 — Choice

“[T]he overall effort of the book to offer new insights into hermeneutics based on themes borrowed from Plato’s work works out well: all chapters testify to a strong and sound scholarship that shows the fertility of Plato’s dialogues for the continuation and renewal of hermeneutics as it has been developed in the works of Gadamer and Heidegger.”
 — Heythrop Journal