Dickman/Interpretation, 1. The Predicaments of Interpretation

Chapter One, The Predicaments of Interpretation, will examine the situation or predicament of interpretation. Why do we interpret at all? How do we know when we have interpreted rather than, say, explained something? What determines the “correct” interpretation, if there is such a thing as correct or incorrect interpretations? This last question forms the core of this chapter. We will see that previous attempts to address the question have isolated three primary options: the writer’s intention, the reader’s response, or the text itself. I propose, alternatively, that questions take priority in interpretation, which will relate to semantics as we noted above. It takes a question to transform a sentence perceived into a complete thought or sense understood. This chapter also surveys a number of contestations in the hermeneutics of sacred texts, frameworks that go beyond the writer, reader, and text, such as broader historical context, the establishment of (in)complete canons, literary genres, and more. In this light, another topic that informs the situation or predicament of interpretation is the location of the humanities in differentiation from natural sciences and fine arts in academia.