this post was submitted on 22 Sep 2024
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US Authoritarianism
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If the intended interpretation of a text is "respect women" and you instead interpret the text as "you can own women", then you have interpreted the text incorrectly.
but there is no way to know what the "intended" interpretation is. and often interpretations beyond the original creator's intent are still valuable and valid
I agree. There is definitely cases where it is impossible to know, but that doesn't mean there isn't wrong ways to interpret something.
You can be wrong without it being possible to know.
how can it be possible to be wrong if there is no definitive correct answer?
Just because it isn't possible to know doesn't mean there isn't a definite correct answer.
A destination can exist without a pathway to it.
okay prove it. otherwise you're just making an assumption.
What did I have for breakfast this day 20 years ago?
You don't know who I am
You don't know where I live
You don't know what is culturally accepted for breakfast for me
You don't have any way to get a recording/CCTV video of me eating on that day
You do not have any pathway to arrive at the correct answer. However there is still a correct answer. I did in fact eat breakfast 20 years ago.
yes but you have to consider that with a religious text there may not have been a single intended interpretation. that's like half the fun of mysticism after all
The problem is still there though, even if there is multiple possible answers.
Name any of the meals I had on this day 20 years ago. I almost certainly had more than one meal that day. But there still isn't a path to get to the correct answer.
okay, here's a better question: does it matter if an interpretation is wrong? just because it is wrong doesn't mean it can't still be valuable
If the spiritual elements of it are valued, yes.
just to be clear, your answer is that it matters that an interpretation is wrong if the spiritual elements are valued? could you clarify?