Abstract

What is a text? What does it mean to understand a text? How does one know that one understands a text? These are some of the principal questions raised in this interesting and provocative book. Of particular interest is the fact that the author forthrightly adopts a stance contrary to much contemporary philosophical opinion. For Gracia, no proper answer to these questions may come from anything less than a systematic theory of texts. In its most provocative formulation, Gracia's thesis is that the understanding of texts is a matter of theory. It is the task of philosophy, so Gracia argues, "to put together a systematic view of the world or any of its parts that is consistent and comprehensive".