“Inherent” Ideology, “Universal” History, “Empirical” Evidence, and “Context-Free” Writing Some Problems in E. D. Hirsch’s The Philosophy of Composition

• Published in: Academic Discourse and Critical Consciousness Vol. 163; p. 51
• Main Author: Bizzell, Patricia
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: United States University of Pittsburgh Press 18.12.1992
• Subjects: Applied linguistics; Arts; Children; Communication skills; Communications; Education; Empirical evidence; Empiricism; Epistemology; Formal education; Human populations; Humanities instruction; Language; Language arts; Language skills; Linguistics; Literacy; Literary criticism; Literary studies; Literature; Pedagogy; Persons; Philosophy; Population studies; Psycholinguistics; Reading; Social sciences; Writing; Writing instruction; Writing skills; Written communication; Written composition
• ISBN: 0822954850; 9780822954859
• DOI: 10.2307/j.ctt7zwb7k.6

InThe Philosophy of Composition,E. D. Hirsch translates his theories of literary criticism into principles of composition teaching.¹ In his critical books,Validity in Interpretation(1967) andThe Aims of Interpretation(1976), Hirsch champions an anti-relativistic critical position. He opposes the purportedly objective explication of literary texts by formal methods, from the New Criticism to Derridean deconstruction. When the text is detached from the conditions of its creation, he argues, it becomes subject to readings that depend more upon the interpreter than the work itself, readings that do not bring us any closer to the meaning of the text.