Because of Culbertson’s exceptional skill at translating dense Continental jargon by use of rich examples and practical applications, her book lays an impressive foundation for future engagement across traditions, even while carefully preserving the distinctive features and priorities of Continental philosophy of language. Her project also opens the way for future scholarship on the ways in which linguistic alienation has already factored into classical Anglo-American contributions. . . Finally, scholars of feminist epistemology, epistemology of ignorance, and epistemic injustice will benefit greatly from Culbertson’s reminder that “the human relationship to language is far more complicated than that of an epistemic subject to an epistemic worldview” (122). Her contribution complicates and ultimately strengthens contemporary debates over the various ways in which individuals and social groups are systematically undermined as speakers and knowers.

Research In Phenomenology

Culbertson’s book breaks new ground in offering a comprehensive treatment of the philosophy of language from a continental perspective, not simply a survey of representative authors but a unique thematic path for new directions that exceed standard assumptions: how normative and developmental elements take precedence over mere descriptive accounts of linguistic formats; how the experience of alienation is a key factor in human discourse and development; how creative openness is an ever-ready impetus in language; how constraining and liberating forces both contribute to identity formation and cultural possibilities. Highly recommended.

- Lawrence J. Hatab, Louis I. Jaffe Professor of Philosophy Emeritus, Old Dominion University,

Culbertson makes a clear and convincing argument for the importance of continental philosophy of language to contemporary thought, an argument that is accessible to beginners and useful to experts. Rather than surveying the entire field, she begins with Heidegger and Gadamer to establish the inescapable ways that language and existence are interwoven. She then complicates and enriches this picture by examining how continental thinkers address moments of “alienation” from language, from the traumas of the Holocaust, to the challenges of gender (Butler), from the silences of depression (Kristeva) to the agonies of colonialism (Derrida). She closes by returning to Heidegger and the questions posed at the beginning, so that the reader can see why it makes sense to speak of continental philosophy as a distinctive tradition. Her book is an important contribution to scholarship and to the classroom.

- Meili Steele, Professor of English Language and Literature, University of South Carolina,