There Are an Infinite Number of Potential Meanings for Any

question 83

Multiple Choice

There are an infinite number of potential meanings for any given text if, as Stanley Fish argues, an individual reader interprets a text and thereby gives it meaning. Why do so many people interpret things in the same ways?

• A) People tend to look to a small number of critics to explain any particular piece of culture.
• B) People have very little imagination and do not like to focus too much on any given text.
• C) People who consume the same texts come from similar backgrounds and have similar interpretive frameworks.
• D) People passively absorb meanings from the media that lead them to see the world in the same ways.

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Definitions:

Homo Habilis

is an extinct species of early human that lived approximately 2.4 to 1.4 million years ago, known for its use of stone tools.

Homo Erectus

An extinct species of hominid that lived from roughly 1.9 million to about 140,000 years ago, known for being one of the first hominins to have a stature and gait similar to that of modern humans.

Ontological Security

The creation of a personal narrative that provides a coherent sense of the self. An individual’s impression that the world is stable, continuous, and predictable, which is often produced through routinized activity.

Precarity

A condition of existence without predictability or security, affecting material or psychological welfare.