Validity in Interpretation

Rating:
Summary: Difficult, But Groundbreaking
Review: Validity in Interpretation is a groundbreaking book of literary hermeneutics with application to all areas of literature. I first read it in seminary and it has forever shaped the way I look at interpretation of Scripture, or any written document. Hirsch provides a useful set of concepts for literary interpretation and passionately and convincingly argues for his position. The book is an early attack on the nonsense of Derrida and Foucault (and their ilk) and the fashionable literary follies of our day. He makes a vital distinction between "meaning and "significance." Meaning ultimately is dependent on authorial intent. A written document can only MEAN what the author intended it to mean. The author may have been unskilled or even incompentent in presenting his/her ideas, but the meaning forever remains what it meant at creation. Significance, however, is the personal, social, and cultural context in which any reader's reaction to the written text takes place. A given written text may have a significance for an individual or community which goes beyond the original author's intent. This significance may, in some sense, have no direct connection to original intent. It remains valid as "significance" but not as "meaning." Hirsch's approach would also be valuable in the area of legal interpretation. A Hirschian analysis of the constitution or the laws would focus on original intent of the Framers or authors of legislation. It would totally undercut the idea of a "living" constitution. This book is very technical, and a hard read. Nevertheless, it will pay great dividends in learning to the careful reader.

Rating:
Summary: Difficult, But Groundbreaking
Review: Validity in Interpretation is a groundbreaking book of literary hermeneutics with application to all areas of literature. I first read it in seminary and it has forever shaped the way I look at interpretation of Scripture, or any written document. Hirsch provides a useful set of concepts for literary interpretation and passionately and convincingly argues for his position. The book is an early attack on the nonsense of Derrida and Foucault (and their ilk) and the fashionable literary follies of our day. He makes a vital distinction between "meaning and "significance." Meaning ultimately is dependent on authorial intent. A written document can only MEAN what the author intended it to mean. The author may have been unskilled or even incompentent in presenting his/her ideas, but the meaning forever remains what it meant at creation. Significance, however, is the personal, social, and cultural context in which any reader's reaction to the written text takes place. A given written text may have a significance for an individual or community which goes beyond the original author's intent. This significance may, in some sense, have no direct connection to original intent. It remains valid as "significance" but not as "meaning." Hirsch's approach would also be valuable in the area of legal interpretation. A Hirschian analysis of the constitution or the laws would focus on original intent of the Framers or authors of legislation. It would totally undercut the idea of a "living" constitution. This book is very technical, and a hard read. Nevertheless, it will pay great dividends in learning to the careful reader.