Epistemological realism and the indeterminacy of meaning. Is systematic interpretation possible?
Journal for General Philosophy of Science 22 (2):245-261 (1991)
| Abstract | Summary This paper tries to show how the irreducible indeterminacy of textual meanings can be reconciled with epistemological realism which normally presupposes independently existing but determinate objects of knowledge. E.D. Hirsch's project of objective interpretation, including his most recent attempts to show that meanings, in spite of their openness to future modifications, are historically determined objects of knowledge, is being criticized. The paper argues that his use of the semantics and the reference theories of Kripke, Putnam, and others forces him to give up, against his own intention, his methodologically important distinction between meaning and significance. Within such theories a strict separation of linguistic knowledge of meaning and world knowledge can no longer be upheld. Since the application of individually and historically variable world knowledge is unavoidable in the process of understanding texts, the textual meanings reconstructed by readers will always remain indeterminate | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,701 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesCecil H. Brown (1976). Semantic Components, Meaning, and Use in Ethnosemantics. Philosophy of Science 43 (3):378-395.
Itay Shani (2005). Intension and Representation: Quine's Indeterminacy Thesis Revisited. Philosophical Psychology 18 (4):415 – 440.
Alexander Hofmann (1995). On the Nature of Meaning and its Indeterminacy: Davidson's View in Perspective. Erkenntnis 42 (1):15 - 40.
Panu Raatikainen (2010). The Semantic Realism/Anti-Realism Dispute and Knowledge of Meanings. The Baltic International Yearbook of Cognition, Logic and Communication 5:1-13.
Ian McDiarmid (2008). Underdetermination and Meaning Indeterminacy: What is the Difference? Erkenntnis 69 (3):279 - 293.
Günter Abel (1994). Indeterminacy and Interpretation. Inquiry 37 (4):403 – 419.
Mark Bevir (2002). What Is a Text? International Philosophical Quarterly 42 (4):493-508.
Jing Wang & Zhilin Zhang (2008). What Kind of Knowledge is Necessary for the Interpretation of Language? Frontiers of Philosophy in China 3 (3):409-423.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2009-01-28Total downloads5 ( #160,428 of 549,119 )Recent downloads (6 months)0How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
