Interpretive Objects - (Carl G. Hempel Lecture) by Mark Schroeder (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Why the most important things in human experience are unified by our ability to find meaning in them

Interpretive objects are everywhere: clouds that look like dragons, rocks that look like eagles, emoticons that look like faces. Despite such ubiquity, these objects have been neglected by philosophers. In this wide-ranging book, Mark Schroeder argues that misunderstandings in many topics in philosophy--from aesthetics to philosophy of mind--arise because philosophers have mistaken interpretive objects for other kinds of things. Interpretive objects are not natural objects, artifacts, social constructs, or biological objects, but they frequently go hand in hand with these things--with the consequence that we always have something to confuse them with.

Schroeder develops a framework for thinking about interpretive objects and how to distinguish them from other kinds of things. He argues that many of the things most important for human experience--works of literature, words, laws, and even people--are interpretive objects, unified by their interpretability. This is so, he argues, because interpretive objects offer a modern way of reviving the ancient worldview that the world itself is imbued with purpose. That is why all and only interpretive objects are where to look for inherent meaning. The power of the analytic method in philosophy, Schroeder explains, is that it allows us to make progress by breaking large and difficult problems down into smaller, easier problems--which leads us to lose track of why those small problems matter. With Interpretive Objects, he directs our attention to the important task of putting things back together.

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