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Intentionalist Interpretation A Philosophical Explanation and Defense
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William Irwin
Book Code: GM1151
ISBN: 0-313-31151-X
ISBN-13: 978-0-313-31151-2
152 pages
Greenwood Press
Publication: 12/30/1999
List Price: $110.95 (UK Sterling Price: £65.00)
Availability: Out of stock
Media Type: Hardcover
Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4
Subjects:
Series Title: Contributions in Philosophy
Series Number: 73
  • Endorsement From David Weberman
    Fellow in Law and Philosophy, Harvard Law School:     Irwin puts forth a clear, cohesive, carefully conceived and interesting theory of the interpretation of texts. It is an intentionalist theory which differs in substantive ways from its predecessors. Along the way, Irwin also illuminates a number of core issues from the distinction between descriptive and normative hermeneutics and the alleged death of the author to the status and interpretation of literary, legal and philosophical texts. A very helpful contribution to an ongoing debate.
  • Endorsement From Brice R. Wachterhauser
    Professor of Philosophy, St. Joseph's University:     William Irwin's Intentionalist Interpretation is a well-written defense of the role of the author's intentions as a touchstone for regulating interpretation. With clarity and an impressive command of many of the key ideas in the contemporary debate about interpretation, Irwin defends and modifies the intentionalist tradition in hermeneutics. Whether one agrees with him or not, Irwin has done a fine job not only surveying the field but in staking out a position that eminently deserves to be a part of the conversation.
  • Endorsement From Gary Iseminger
    Carleton College, Minnesota:     William Irwin's Intentionalist Interpretation is a very useful defense of the importance of authors' intentions to literary interpretation, a view generally incompatible with reigning critical orthodoxies, first New Critical and later Deconstructionist, for at least the last half century, but lately reasserted. I especially appreciated the judicious, sympathetic, but not uncritical discussions of writers in the Continental tradition such as Foucault and Gadamer--discussions that help to show the possibility of fruitful dialogue between them and philosophers in the Anglo-American tradition.
Description: The tension between the roles of authorial intention and the "text itself" is a basic concern of contemporary hermeneutics. Challenging much of the current thinking in the field, this volume argues that the "text itself," in its various forms, is an untenable criterion for correct interpretation, and through compelling moral and epistemological arguments defends an intentionalist approach to interpretation. After discussing the shortcomings of earlier intentionalist theories, Irwin proposes a new, normative approach, "urinterpretation," which is based on an author construct, the "urauthor," that includes several elements traditionally seen as separate from the author. The book closes with a theoretical application of intentionalism to philosophical, literary, and legal texts.
Table of Contents:
  • Preface
  • Normative and Descriptive Approaches to Hermeneutics: How Should We Interpret? How Do We Interpret?
  • A Critical Survey of Author Constructs: Does It Matter Who Is Speaking?
  • A Defense of an Intentionalist Approach: Urinterpretation
  • Gadamer's Hermeneutics: Descriptive and Normative
  • Conclusions and Implications
  • Selected Bibliography
  • Index
LC Card Number: 99-31576
LCC Class: B824
Dewey Class: 121
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