Interpretation, Intentions, and Responsibility

• Authors: Peter Alward
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

In this paper, I defend a contextualist account of the role of authors’ intentions in interpretation, according to which their role depends on readers’ interpretive interests. In light of a general discussion of intentions and responsibility, I argue that insofar as readers are interested in attributing authorial responsibility for interpretations of fictional works, authors’ intentions need to play a central role in those interpretations. And I investigate the implications of this account for ‘accidental authorship’, cases in which interpretations of a work are neither intended nor reasonably foreseen by the author.

Keywords

EN

intentionalism; contextualism; interpretation; artist’s intention; fiction

Discipline

• PHILOSOPHY: PHILOSOPHY

• Publisher: Institute of Art History, Czech Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Estetika: The Central European Journal of Aesthetics
• Year: 2018
• Volume: 55 (New Series 11)
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 135-154
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Peter Alward

• Estetika, redakce, Katedra estetiky, Filozofická fakulta UK, Celená 20, 116 42 Praha 1, Czech Republic