Word: hermenaut
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...warned: this is not exactly philosophy for the masses. At the same time, Hermenaut prides itself on the propagation of intellectually challenging arguments that actually mean something in real life. Some might think that only intellectual elites would understand and enjoy the material in the magazine, but back when Hermenaut was still a collection of stapled photocopies, some of its biggest fans were teenage girls. Glenn attributes this to their appreciation for how Hermenaut, even in its earliest days, was saying something smart and interesting and different. So who, exactly, reads and loves Hermenaut? And who should? It?...
Part of what makes Hermenaut so unique and refreshing is its nonconformist and noncorporate attitude. The magazine itself does not support its editorial staff full-time, and at this point profitability is more of a fantasy than a priority. But Hermenaut’s continuing lack of regularity and security means that it can pretty much do whatever the hell it wants. Like take a dunk tank to the Burning Man Festival and document the resulting events in the pages of Issue...
...Hermenaut has to pay special attention to instructing new contributing writers in part because of the somewhat unconventional niche it occupies. “Hermenaut is supposed to make you feel a little uncomfortable,” says Glenn. “It’s supposed to push you out and pull you in.” The middle ground Hermenaut is seeking lies between the domain of “the serious scholar and the freelance hack journalist.” If Hermenaut is proud of its unusual approach to philosophical and cultural discourse, that stems partly from...
...provide a forum in a more straightforward way that’s not done in the academy.” That forum is also on the Internet, at www.hermenaut.com, which gets somewhere in the neighborhood of 30,000 hits a week. The website features a new piece of Hermenaut-worthy material each week, along with selected articles from past issues and a discussion group...
Glenn thinks that Hermenaut provides important proof that it is possible and worthwhile to get people thinking and excited about philosophical concepts and tools that usually don’t make it beyond university campuses and into real life. No doubt Hermenaut has as much potential to annoy and confuse as it does to delight—it’s not for everyone, although maybe it would be nice if it were. Will Hermenaut ever manage to bring about the revolution in philosophical discourse it dreams of? Its staff doesn’t even know when the next issue...