Resumen de The Risky Business of Understanding: Philosophical Hermeneutics and the Knowing Subject in Worldmaking
In this critical commentary, Caton argues that since its introduction to the literature over the past decade by Hollinshead, the notion of "worldmaking" has risen to become an important organizing concept within tourism studies. Here, Caton deems worldmaking to be "a wonderfully holistic notion," because it takes into account not only the interactions of the diverse agents, the structures, the ideologies, and the material conditions that make up what she sees as "our tourism world," but also the larger world beyond�of which the sphere of tourism is such a powerful part. Yet Caton is concerned that, currently, the epistemological dimensions of worldmaking have not been rigorously or vigorously explored. In this review article, therefore, she explores how the seeds of the so-called worldmaking process (or ordinary worldmaking activity, in general) conceivably begin at the level of the individual knowing mind. Her critical commentary thereby seeks to remind readers of Tourism Analysis of the work of the great 20th-century philosopher, Hans-Georg Gadamer, specifically with regard to his development of the position called "philosophical hermeneutics." Caton argues here that Gadamerian philosophical hermeneutics can indeed stand as a/or the epistemological foundation par excellence for "tourism" as may be seen and interpreted through worldmaking lenses. In this review piece, Caton maintains that pondering of and about Gadamer's work can not only vitally help us all toward improved understanding of ourselves as "epistemic subjects" but lead us to become much more aware and reflective about the power we actually do hold in the production of our times. (Abstract by the Review's Editor)
