1. For a general analysis that understands our current disputes as moral disagreements and is therefore concerned with the place of moral disagreement in American political life, see Amy Gutmann and Dennis Thompson, Democracy and Disagreement (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1996).

2. Lawrence Tribe, Abortion: The Clash of Absolutes (New York: W. W. Norton, 1990), 3.

3. Ibid., 224-25.

4. Ibid., 230-31.

2. Lawrence Tribe, Abortion: The Clash of Absolutes (New York: W. W. Norton, 1990), 3.

3. Ibid., 224-25.

4. Ibid., 230-31.

2. Lawrence Tribe, Abortion: The Clash of Absolutes (New York: W. W. Norton, 1990), 3.

3. Ibid., 224-25.

4. Ibid., 230-31.

5. See Kristin Luker, Abortion and the Politics of Motherhood (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984). Also see Chapter Four, below.

6. Tribe, Abortion , 237.

7. It might seem odd to suggest this interpretive pluralism as a model for literary discussion just at the point at which some English departments are erupting into battle over what one side criticizes as political correctness and the other as conservatism. (See, for example, John M. Ellis, Literature Lost: Social Agendas and the Corruption of the Humanities [New Haven: Yale University Press, continue

1997].) Nor have all literary critics been tolerant of the interpretations of others. But if discussions of literature and works of art are adopting the attitudes of much of our discussions of social issues, that one and only one side can be right about meaning, then this book goes in the opposite direction. That queer theory allows for new and illuminating interpretations of the novels of Henry James is a cause for celebration, not dogmatic reaction. At the same time, such celebration does not mean that we cannot also be enlightened by more traditional approaches to his texts.

8. See Hans-Georg Gadamer, Truth and Method , trans. Joel Weinsheimer and Donald G. Marshall, 2d rev. ed. (New York: Crossroads Press, 1992), 302.

9. Columbia Pictures, 1995.

10. See Richard Rorty, Consequences of Pragmatism (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1982).

11. See Kent Greenawalt, ''Interpretation and Judgment," Yale Journal of Law and Humanities 9 (1997): 423-24, and my "Reply to Greenawalt," pp. 437-38 in the same issue.

12. Gadamer, Truth and Method , 296.

13. Ibid., 306.

12. Gadamer, Truth and Method , 296.

13. Ibid., 306.

14. See E. D. Hirsch, Validity in Interpretation (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1967), 31.

15. See Tony Tanner, introduction to Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility (1811) (New York: Penguin Books, 1978), 7 and 15-22. See George Haggerty, "The Sacrifice of Privacy in Sense and Sensibility," Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature 7 (1988): 221-37.

16. Tanner, introduction to Austen, Sense and Sensibility , 15. To supplement this interpretation, we might note that it is Marianne's very sincerity and unwillingness to mask her feelings that attracts the man she eventually marries and that this man might be thought to possess far more substance than Edward, whose appeal seems, from some perspectives, limited to his ethical propriety. It may be for this reason that Thompson's film version adds a beginning sequence at Norland Park to give Edward more depth, evidently because he is so slight a character as written in the novel, at least for contemporary readers. But Marianne's eventual husband, Colonel Brandon, has both ethical propriety and a kind of depth of experience and sorrow that makes him more credible, at least to us, as someone Marianne or Elinor might love.

17. Haggerty, "Sacrifice of Privacy in Sense and Sensibility ," 222.

18. Ibid., 234.

17. Haggerty, "Sacrifice of Privacy in Sense and Sensibility ," 222.

18. Ibid., 234.

19. Gadamer, Truth and Method , p. 298.

20. Ibid., 291.

21. Ibid.

22. Ibid., 294.

23. Ibid.

24. Ibid.

25. Ibid., 457. Also see Hans-Georg Gadamer, Dialogue and Dialectic: Eight Hermeneutical Studies on Plato , trans. P. Christopher Smith (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1980), 146. break

19. Gadamer, Truth and Method , p. 298.

20. Ibid., 291.

21. Ibid.

22. Ibid., 294.

23. Ibid.

24. Ibid.

25. Ibid., 457. Also see Hans-Georg Gadamer, Dialogue and Dialectic: Eight Hermeneutical Studies on Plato , trans. P. Christopher Smith (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1980), 146. break

19. Gadamer, Truth and Method , p. 298.

20. Ibid., 291.

21. Ibid.

22. Ibid., 294.

23. Ibid.

24. Ibid.

25. Ibid., 457. Also see Hans-Georg Gadamer, Dialogue and Dialectic: Eight Hermeneutical Studies on Plato , trans. P. Christopher Smith (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1980), 146. break

19. Gadamer, Truth and Method , p. 298.

20. Ibid., 291.

21. Ibid.

22. Ibid., 294.

23. Ibid.

24. Ibid.

25. Ibid., 457. Also see Hans-Georg Gadamer, Dialogue and Dialectic: Eight Hermeneutical Studies on Plato , trans. P. Christopher Smith (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1980), 146. break

19. Gadamer, Truth and Method , p. 298.

20. Ibid., 291.

21. Ibid.

22. Ibid., 294.

23. Ibid.

24. Ibid.

25. Ibid., 457. Also see Hans-Georg Gadamer, Dialogue and Dialectic: Eight Hermeneutical Studies on Plato , trans. P. Christopher Smith (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1980), 146. break

19. Gadamer, Truth and Method , p. 298.

20. Ibid., 291.

21. Ibid.

22. Ibid., 294.

23. Ibid.

24. Ibid.

25. Ibid., 457. Also see Hans-Georg Gadamer, Dialogue and Dialectic: Eight Hermeneutical Studies on Plato , trans. P. Christopher Smith (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1980), 146. break

19. Gadamer, Truth and Method , p. 298.

20. Ibid., 291.

21. Ibid.

22. Ibid., 294.

23. Ibid.

24. Ibid.

25. Ibid., 457. Also see Hans-Georg Gadamer, Dialogue and Dialectic: Eight Hermeneutical Studies on Plato , trans. P. Christopher Smith (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1980), 146. break

26. See Arthur Danto, Analytical Philosophy of History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1965), 17.

27. Truth and Method , 307-12.

28. See, for example, John Rawls, Political Liberalism (New York: Columbia University Press, 1992), and Michael Walzer, Spheres of Justice (New York: Basic Books, 1987). See also my Justice and Interpretation (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1993).

29. Jürgen Habermas, Between Facts and Norms: Contributions to a Discourse Theory of Law , trans. William Rehg (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1996), 307.