Understanding is always and necessarily embedded in the action and meaning context of a specific culture. How can the forms of action and meaning of a foreign culture be understood? Through a careful engagement with important contributions from philosophers and ethnologists addressing this question, Kogge concludes that it requires an attitude of discretion, where understanding does not mean finding or establishing a common foundation, but rather acting with an awareness of difference. As it becomes increasingly clear that the growing exchange between cultures neither fulfills the Enlightenment's hope for a humanity united in reason nor confirms the particularistic assumption of insurmountable barriers, the question of how to think about the relationship between understanding, communication, and cultural differences becomes all the more important.