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Why do critics debate whether an author’s intended meaning should guide interpretation of a text?

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Antique book open to the frontispiece of The Iliad of Homer, showing the title and an engraved portrait of a bearded man, with old books in the background. — literature *The Iliad*, an epic of the Trojan War attributed to the ancient Greek poet Homer, is considered a foundational work of Western literature.

The debate over whether an author’s intended meaning should guide the interpretation of a text centers on the concept of intentionality.

Critics who reject the use of authorial intent often point to the intentional fallacy, a term popularized by W.K. Wimsatt and Monroe Beardsley. They argue that judging a work based on what an author had in mind forces critics to act as historians or psychologists, speculating on the creator's mental state rather than focusing on the text itself. This perspective, championed by New Criticism, suggests that a work should be evaluated as an autonomous object.12

Conversely, other scholars, such as E.D. Hirsch, Jr., contend that understanding an author’s purpose is essential. They argue that without knowledge of the original intention, it is impossible to determine whether a work has successfully achieved its goals. Ultimately, the disagreement persists because it pits the desire for objective textual analysis against the belief that a work's meaning is inextricably linked to its creator's vision.12