Description: Reading and textual interpretation are ordinary human activities, performed inside as well as outside academia, but precisely how they function as unique sources of knowledge is not well understood. In this book, René van Woudenberg explores the nature of reading and how it is distinct from perception and (attending to) testimony, which are two widely acknowledged knowledge sources. After distinguishing seven accounts of interpretation, van Woudenberg discusses the question of whether all reading inevitably involves interpretation, and shows that although reading and interpretation often go together, they are distinct activities. He goes on to argue that both reading and interpretation can be paths to realistically conceived truth, and explains the conditions under which we are justified in believing that they do indeed lead us to the truth. Along the way, he offers clear and novel analyses of reading, meaning, interpretation, and interpretative knowledge.
Brief description: René van Woudenberg is Professor of Philosophy at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Director of the Abraham Kuyper Center for Science and the Big Questions. He is co-editor of The Cambridge Companion to Common-Sense Philosophy (with Rik Peels, Cambridge, 2020) and Scientism: Prospects and Problems (with Rik Peels and Jeroen de Ridder, 2018).
Review Quotes: 'Recommended.' C. Elgin, CHOICE