Validity In Interpretation Ed Hirsch

Validity in Interpretation

The object of interpretation is textual meaning in and for itself and may be called the meaning of the text. The object of criticism, on the other hand, is that meaning in its bearing on something else (standards of value, present concerns, etc.), and this object may therefore may be called the significance of the text. If textual meaning itself could change, contemporary readers would lack a basis for agreement or disagreement. No one would bother seriously to discuss such a protean object. The interpreter has to distinguish what a text implies from what it does not imply; he must give the text its full due, but he must also preserve norms and limits. For hermeneutic theory, the problem is to find a principle for judging whether various possible implications should or should not be admitted. By classifying the text as belonging to a particular genre, the interpreter automatically posits a general horizon for its meaning. The genre provides a sense of the whole, a notion of typical meaning components. Thus, before we interpret a text, we often classify it as casual conversation, lyric poem, military command, scientific prose, occasional verse, novel, epic, etc. The interpreter's job is to specify the text's horizon as far as he is able, and this means, ultimately, that he must familiarize himself with the typical meanings of the author's mental and experiential world. Hermeneutics must stress the reconstruction of the author's aims and attitudes in order to evolve guides and norms for construing the meaning of the text. Ambiguity or, for that matter, vagueness is not the same as indeterminateness. This is the crux of the issue. To say that verbal meaning is determinate is not to exclude complexities of meaning but only to insist that a text's meaning is what it is and not a hundred other things. Taken in this sense, a vague or ambiguous text is just as determinate as a logical proposition; it means what it means and nothing else.

The Aims of Interpretation

The Blackwell Companion to Hermeneutics

THE BLACKWELL COMPANION TO HERMENEUTICS "The Blackwell Companion to Hermeneutics is destined to become an invaluable resource for its incisive discussions of all aspects of hermeneutics within the field of philosophy." —Burt Hopkins, Seattle University "This is an extraordinarily rich collection of articles on every aspect of hermeneutics. It covers not just the history of hermeneutics from the ancient Greeks to the present, but also topics ranging from aesthetics and politics to pragmatism and deconstruction as analyzed by key thinkers such as Schleiermacher, Dilthey, Heidegger, Gadamer, Vattimo, and Apel. This Companion is an essential guide to the hermeneutic tradition." —Dermot Moran, University College Dublin "Hermeneutics—the philosophical theory of interpretation—has been one of the most influential strands of European thought over the last two hundred years or more. This comprehensive volume of essays, with contributions by many leading experts in the field, constitutes an ideal point of entry into the hermeneutic tradition. Its range and level of detail will also appeal to those who wish to advance their knowledge of hermeneutic philosophy and its many important consequences." —Peter Dews, University of Essex The Blackwell Companion to Hermeneutics is a collection of original essays that provides a definitive historical, systematic, authoritative, and critical compendium of philosophical hermeneutics. The volume explores the art and theory of interpretation as it intersects with contemporary philosophical and interdisciplinary schools of thought, including humanism, politics, education, theology, literature, and law. Essays also include cutting-edge discussions of the relation of hermeneutics to the history of philosophy, and address the major themes, topics, core concepts, and key figures at the heart of the discipline. The reference features 70 chapters from an international cast of leading and upcoming scholars, who offer historically informed, philosophically comprehensive, and critically astute contributions in their individual fields of expertise. In doing so, they identify and enact different aspects of hermeneutical aims and approaches in an attempt to bear witness to both the inherent diversity of hermeneutics, and also the constancy and fidelity of its return to history and tradition. Timely and thought-provoking, The Blackwell Companion to Hermeneutics is the only comprehensive reference work of its kind, and offers a wealth of information for everyone with an interest in hermeneutics.