Theodore George

Theodore George is Professor of Philosophy and Presidential Impact Fellow at Texas A&M University. He is the author of The Responsibility to Understand: Hermeneutical Contours of Ethical Life (Edinburgh University Press, 2020), Tragedies of Spirit: Tracing Finitude in Hegel’s Phenomenology (State University of New York Press, 2006), and numerous articles and book chapters in his areas of expertise, including The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry, “Hermeneutics.” He is co-ed. with Gert-Jan van der Heiden, The Gadamerian Mind in the Routledge Philosophical Minds series (Routledge, 2021), as well as co-ed. with Charles Bambach, Philosophers and their Poets: Reflections on the Poetic Turn in Philosophy Since Kant (State University of New York Press, 2019) and translator of Günter Figal, Objectivity: The Hermeneutical and Philosophy (State University of New York Press, 2010). Recently, his first work of poetry has appeared, Motherfisher: a haiku-story of grieving in the age of COVID (Alien Buddha Press, 2021).

George’s honorary appointments include Professor (Adjunct appointment), Faculty of Nursing, University of Calgary (2021–present) and Professor (Adjunct appointment), College of Fellows, School of Humanities and Communication Arts, Western Sydney University (2016–2021). George is category editor, PhilPapers, “Hermeneutics,” / leaf editor “Hans-Georg Gadamer.” His research has been supported by the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the Fulbright Commission, the Goethe Institute, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS) at the University of Freiburg, Germany, as well as at Texas A&M University by the Presidential Impact Fellows Program, the Rothrock Fellows Program, and the Glasscock Center for Humanities Research. He is a recipient of the Texas A&M Association of Former Students College of Liberal Arts Teaching Award.

Dr. George’s administrative and service contributions include two terms as Head of the Department of Philosophy at Texas A&M University, Academic Program Review work in conjunction with Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board mandate, as well as peer-review work for granting agencies such as the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Fulbright Commission, as well as for numerous presses and journals. He serves on advisory boards for journals and professional organizations in his areas of expertise, he is a former Director of the Collegium Phaenomenologicum, and former President of the North American Society for Philosophical Hermeneutics. Dr. George serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the Brazos Valley Food Bank, Bryan, Texas.

Educational Background

• Ph.D. in Philosophy, Villanova University, 2000

Scholarly Achievements

• The Responsibility to Understand: Hermeneutical Contours of Ethical Life (Edinburgh University Press, 2020)

• “Hermeneutics,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

• The Gadamerian Mind, Philosophical Minds Series (Co-Editor, Routledge, 2021)

• “Hermeneutic Realism and Veritative Hermeneutics,” Critical Hermeneutics, Vol. 6, No. 2 (2022) Special Issue, Co-Guest Editor

• “Heidegger on the Poet’s Vocation: Cultural Nationalism, Linguistic Nationalism, and the Prospects of the Poetic Word,” Gatherings: The Heidegger Circle Annual, Vol. 13 (2023), forthcoming

• “Response” for special symposium on “Dichtung in Heidegger’s Thinking,” Gatherings: The Heidegger Circle Annual, Vol. 13 (2023), forthcoming

Office Hours

• By Appointment