Interpretation is the process by which the meaning of a given set of symbols is
posited by an interpreter. Interpretation depends on
the coexistence of several indispensable factors: the speaker / writer, the
message / text, the listener / reader, the
medium (i.e. signs) in which the message is communicated,
and the socio-historical context in which the message is
communicated.
One major area of dispute concerns the source
of the meaning thought to be merely 'found' in a given text:
Is
it created by the interpreter?
Is it intended by the
speaker / writer?
Does it inhere in the signs themselves
which comprise the text?
Is it a function of the text's
socio-historical context?
On the last view, both the reader
and the writer produce
meaning by participating in a complex of socially defined and
enforced practices and making use of a socially-inscribed medium. Interpretation is an active process of producing
values and meanings, a process that always occurs within specific
cultural and political contexts, directly linked to the world in
which both the writer and the reader live.
This site will always be a work in progress
as a result of which pages will be found at various stages of
completion.