Interpretation as Universalizing

Abstract

The conviction that interpretation is a particularist activity is widespread. It is still commonly believed that there exists no such thing as the ‘correct’ interpretation, rather there always exists a multitude of possibilities depending on various personal and contextual factors. This article argues that this belief is erroneous. Far from being a particularist act that produces mastery over its object, interpretation should rather be considered as a universalist act that always makes a universalist claim. Although every work leads to competing interpretations, the project of interpretation is not pluralist. For, unlike the hermeneutic approach, the interpretive one allows for a definitive reading: when one hits on the universal point of impossibility in a work, one produces an interpretation that cannot be surpassed.