Cultural Transactions: Nature, Self, Society

In this provocative book, Paul Hernadi goes beyond current intersubjectivist approaches to cultural phenomena, maintaining instead that the natural, the personal, and the social are complementary dimensions of all human making, doing, and meaning. His chief concern is with verbal communication, but he also considers music and architecture, cooking and business, television and film, basketball and chess.

For centuries, Hernadi notes, people viewed either matter or mind—nature or spirit—as the ultimate principle of being and becoming. In contrast, much contemporary theory assumes that reality is socially constructed. While recognizing the powers of culture, Hernadi pays close attention to the material conditions and personal responsibilities of human agency as well. Tracing both continuities and disruptions in key intellectual traditions, he relates his conceptions of culture, existence, and experience to three classic triads: the rhetorical aims of moving, delighting, and teaching; the psychological capacities of willing, feeling, and knowing; and the evaluative criteria of justice, beauty, and truth.

Discussing such controversies as the conflict between Lacanian and Derridean viewpoints, this book will be essential reading for anyone interested in literary theory, feminist theory, and the intersections of psychoanalysis and philosophy in literary criticism.