One of the most interesting and fruitful anthropological discussions of philosophy occurred within the so-called ‘interpretive turn’ in anthropology. This turn was inspired by philosophy and initiated a reconsideration of philosophical concepts. In particular, the reconsideration of the hermeneutic notion of ‘understanding’ led to new anthropological readings of the works of Martin Heidegger, Hans-Georg Gadamer and Paul Ricoeur. At the same time this anthropological discussion had its impact on philosophy. On the one hand, hermeneutic and analytic philosophy came closer together while questioning the possibilities of understanding alien cultures: Peter Winch and Richard Rorty dealt with the problem of understanding cultural differences in referring to the philosophy of language. On the other hand, hermeneutic philosophy, being traditionally occupied with the interpretation of texts and historical events, found itself involved in questions concerning social behaviour and cultural differences. Thus a dialogue between anthropology and philosophy occurred, which caused a reformulation of the concept of ‘understanding’ and simultaneously initiated new attempts to conceptualize the cultural and social reality. I argue that philosophical and anthropological concerns can finally convene in an ‘anthropology of the contemporary’, to borrow a term from Paul Rabinow.

In the following I will first outline some of the most important aspects and perspectives of the interpretive turn, which conditions and shapes the contemporary discourse. Then I want to focus on two interrelated aspects of contemporary anthropology in relation to philosophy: first, the attempts to reformulate the concepts of knowledge and understanding, and second, the efforts to conceptualize culture as a practice.