Meaning and Interpretation

This volume contains 16 papers on problems about meaning and interpretation. The themes treated range from general philosophical issues concerning meaning and interpretation to more specific questions about interpretation of historical events, Biblical texts and statutory law. Three themes that receive much attention in several papers are: the objectivity and normativity of meaning, the reading and interpretation of fiction, and the role and limitations of the principle of compositionality in linguistic understanding.

All the papers were presented at a conference held in Stockholm in 1998 with scholars from philosophy, linguistics, aesthetic disciplines, history, jurisprudence and theology.

There are four invited papers from outside Sweden, viz. by Donald Davidson, “Interpretation: Hard in Theory, Easy in Practice”, Jørgen Dines Johansen, “A Semiotic Perspective on the Interpretation of Literary Texts”, Paul Ricoeur, “Interpretation in History”, and Kendall L. Walton, “Empathy and Musical Tension”.