Meaning of Authorial Intention

ii This thesis is a hermeneutical investigation of the significance of the concept of authorial intention in relation to the ontological structure of the literary work of art. I argue that tensions arising from the way in which mainstream philosophical hermeneutics--represented here by Hans-Georg Gadamer and Paul Ricoeur--has sought to construe the role of an author's intention in relation to the world of meaning to which a literary work of art has the potential to give rise tend to obscure the ontological significance of the relationship between meaning and intention. I contend that if we are to understand the ontological significance of this relationship we must begin by articulating a hermeneutic ontology in terms of intentionality