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On Critical Interpretation as Itself a Kind of Critical Validation

We do not live understandingly alone, but together with others whose attempts to understand things we also have to understand. Whether we agree with them or disagree with them, take them to be right or take them to be wrong, we must in any event understand (or misunderstand) what they say and mean. In doing so, however, we either make or imply yet another claim to validity – -- the claim, namely, to have understood or interpreted what they say and mean correctly.

But in this case, as much as any other, our validity claim may become sufficiently problematic that we have no choice, if we are not to break off communication altogether, but to shift from the primary level of living understandingly to the secondary level – -- the level of critical reflection and proper theory, where our interpretation of others also becomes critical insofar as it consists in critically validating (or invalidating) this further claim to validity that we make or imply, that we have interpreted others correctly.

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