The Conflicts of Interpretations and the Limits of Pluralism by Paul Armstrong- a Reflection

Abstract

This reaction paper follows a format wherein I summarize an idea and reflect upon it subsequently, as recommended by the SIUC Writing Center . The broad theme of this reading revolves around Paul Armstrong discussing the numerous ways in which one may comprehend a text via different modes of interpretation. Comprehensively going through a text several times is the most elementary method of interpretation, according to the author. Armstrong opens by attempting to familiarize the readers with the different views on interpretation that certain kinds of people have. He encourages the reader to appreciate how fundamentally diverse the thought processes of a monist and a radical relativist are, as to the latter, to interpret is to misinterpret, and to the former, it has a separate meaning altogether. On reflection, Armstrong through such an introduction, is trying to prepare the reader to not limit or box themselves and thereby interpret text in more ways than one.