Toward a theory of interpretation and preciseness

T h e present article intends to give a survey of the attempts which the au,thor and his collaborators have made to work out a system of basic concepts suitable for a theory of interpretation and preciseness that is confirmable by means of systematic observation under standardized conditions. In spite of much valuable work, there is so far little done to arrive at sufficiently precise delimitations of such observations. Thus, there is little done to construct tools by which to decide whether two persons misinterpret each other or not. There are no standardized procedures or observations by means of which different interpretations can be distinguished. The theories are therefore apt to degenerate into vague vocabularies, or reduced to furnish classifications without solid observational basis, but often filled up with methodological magic words of the time, as ,behavioral, or ,operational,. The author believes that he has at least been aware of the dangers, inherent in this situation.' The work was originally motivated by a feeling that so-called