Is There a Single Right Interpretation?

Is There a Single Right Interpretation? PDF

Author: Michael Krausz

Publisher: Penn State Press

Published: 2010-11-01

Total Pages: 436

ISBN-13: 9780271046983

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Is there a single right interpretation for such cultural phenomena as works of literature, visual artworks, works of music, the self, and legal and sacred texts? In these essays, almost all written especially for this volume, twenty leading philosophers pursue different answers to this question by examining the nature of interpretation and its objects and ideals. The fundamental conflict between positions that universally require the ideal of a single admissible interpretation (singularism) and those that allow a multiplicity of some admissible interpretations (multiplism) leads to a host of engrossing questions explored in these essays: Does multiplism invite interpretive anarchy? Can opposing interpretations be jointly defended? Should competition between contending interpretations be understood in terms of (bivalent) truth or (multivalent) reasonableness, appropriateness, aptness, or the like? Is interpretation itself an essentially contested concept? Does interpretive activity seek truth or aim at something else as well? Should one focus on interpretive acts rather than interpretations? Should admissible interpretations be fixed by locating intentions of a historical or hypothetical creator, or neither? What bearing does the fact of the historical situatedness of cultural entities have on their identities? The contributors are Annette Barnes, No&ël Carroll, Stephen Davies, Susan Feagin, Alan Goldman, Charles Guignon, Chhanda Gupta, Garry Hagberg, Michael Krausz, Peter Lamarque, Jerrold Levinson, Joseph Margolis, Rex Martin, Jitendra Mohanty, David Novitz, Philip Percival, Torsten Pettersson, Robert Stecker, Laurent Stern, and Paul Thom.

Rightness and Reasons

Rightness and Reasons PDF

Author: Michael Krausz

Publisher: Cornell University Press

Published: 2019-05-15

Total Pages: 193

ISBN-13: 1501744569

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Must there be a single right interpretation of a particular cultural entity? In his book Michael Krausz considers this question in such representative cultural practices as music, visual art, history, and cross-cultural understanding. Krausz advances two main theses. First, he argues, the notion that there must be a single right interpretation in cultural practices—the "singularist" view—is misplaced. Without acceding to an interpretive anarchism, he embraces the "multiplist" view that cultural practices characteristically allow a multiplicity of ideally admissible interpretations. In his discussion Krausz critically outlines the maneuvers available to both singularists and multiplists. Second, Krausz notes that singularists characteristically construe their objects-of-interpretation along realist lines, and multiplists along constructionist lines. But, he argues, these associations are not necessary: the singularist condition is not guaranteed by realism, nor the multiplist by constructionism. Krausz holds that the question of interpretive ideals is detachable from the dispute between realists and constructionists. Addressing topics of intense concern within mainstream analytic philosophy and in many other areas of cultural investigation, Rightness and Reasons will be rewarding reading for aestheticians, musicologists, art historians, literary theorists, historiographers, and anthropologists.

Interpretation and Its Objects.

Interpretation and Its Objects. PDF

Author: RITIVOI, Andreea Deciu

Publisher: Rodopi

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 419

ISBN-13: 904201167X

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This volume collects twenty-one original essays that discuss Michael Krausz's distinctive and provocative contribution to the theory of interpretation. At the beginning of the book Krausz offers a synoptic review of his central claims, and he concludes with a substantive essay that replies to scholars from the United States, England, Germany, India, Japan, and Australia. Krausz's philosophical work centers around a distinction that divides interpreters of cultural achievements into two groups. Singularists assume that for any object of interpretation only one single admissible interpretation can exist. Multiplists assume that for some objects of interpretation more than one interpretation is admissible. A central question concerns the ontological entanglements involved in interpretive activity. Domains of application include works of art and music, as well as literary, historical, legal and religious texts. Further topics include truth commissions, ethnocentrism and interpretations across cultures.

Interpretation and Its Objects

Interpretation and Its Objects PDF

Author: Andreea Deciu Ritivoi

Publisher: Rodopi

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 399

ISBN-13: 9401209324

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This volume collects twenty-one original essays that discuss Michael Krausz’s distinctive and provocative contribution to the theory of interpretation. At the beginning of the book Krausz offers a synoptic review of his central claims, and he concludes with a substantive essay that replies to scholars from the United States, England, Germany, India, Japan, and Australia. Krausz’s philosophical work centers around a distinction that divides interpreters of cultural achievements into two groups. Singularists assume that for any object of interpretation only one single admissible interpretation can exist. Multiplists assume that for some objects of interpretation more than one interpretation is admissible. A central question concerns the ontological entanglements involved in interpretive activity. Domains of application include works of art and music, as well as literary, historical, legal and religious texts. Further topics include truth commissions, ethnocentrism and interpretations across cultures.

Purposive Interpretation in Law

Purposive Interpretation in Law PDF

Author: Aharon Barak

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2011-10-16

Total Pages: 444

ISBN-13: 1400841267

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This book presents a comprehensive theory of legal interpretation, by a leading judge and legal theorist. Currently, legal philosophers and jurists apply different theories of interpretation to constitutions, statutes, rules, wills, and contracts. Aharon Barak argues that an alternative approach--purposive interpretation--allows jurists and scholars to approach all legal texts in a similar manner while remaining sensitive to the important differences. Moreover, regardless of whether purposive interpretation amounts to a unifying theory, it would still be superior to other methods of interpretation in tackling each kind of text separately. Barak explains purposive interpretation as follows: All legal interpretation must start by establishing a range of semantic meanings for a given text, from which the legal meaning is then drawn. In purposive interpretation, the text's "purpose" is the criterion for establishing which of the semantic meanings yields the legal meaning. Establishing the ultimate purpose--and thus the legal meaning--depends on the relationship between the subjective and objective purposes; that is, between the original intent of the text's author and the intent of a reasonable author and of the legal system at the time of interpretation. This is easy to establish when the subjective and objective purposes coincide. But when they don't, the relative weight given to each purpose depends on the nature of the text. For example, subjective purpose is given substantial weight in interpreting a will; objective purpose, in interpreting a constitution. Barak develops this theory with masterful scholarship and close attention to its practical application. Throughout, he contrasts his approach with that of textualists and neotextualists such as Antonin Scalia, pragmatists such as Richard Posner, and legal philosophers such as Ronald Dworkin. This book represents a profoundly important contribution to legal scholarship and a major alternative to interpretive approaches advanced by other leading figures in the judicial world.

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