Unorthodox Views

Much of contemporary critical theory holds that meaning is relative and subjective. This book scrutinizes the principal assumptions and beliefs about mind, language, meaning, truth, and reality governing current debate and discussion not only in literary criticism and theory but also in the broader academic culture. In doing so, the volume brings support to the growing number of scholars who are expressing renewed interest in authors, determinate meanings, formal and aesthetic issues, and related concerns, but who have been laboring without sufficient theoretical arguments or justifications. Moving beyond critique, the book offers rigorous defenses of alternatives to the prevailing critical orthodoxies.

The first five chapters address foundational issues, arguing against or exposing the limitations of the most common forms of linguistic idealism, social constructivism, and relativism. These initial chapters prepare the way for subsequent discussions of more text-based matters, such as the authorial determination of artistic effects, the bases of our emotional and evaluative responses to fiction, the justifications of our decisions about intrinsic merit and artistic value, and other matters crucial to our understanding of the meanings and values implicit in human expression.

Preface
Introduction: Heresy in an Orthodox World: The Affirmation of Truth, Reality, and Meaning
Language, Truth, and Reality
The Truth Is, There Is No Truth
Realism and Truth, Together Again
Conceptual Relativity and Relativism
Determinate Meanings and Coherent Messages
Paying Deference to Reference
Fact, Fiction, and Method
Fact, Fiction, Belief, and Emotion
Incommensurability, Rational Method, and "Anything Goes"
Interpretation, Politics, and Intrinsic Merit
Agents, Makings, and Meanings
Human Universals, Politics, and Literary Value
Humanism and Intercultural Critique
Bibliography
Index