The Principles of Subjective Approach in Commentary

The subjective approach emphasizes on the involvement of mental factors in commentary and holds that the meaning of the text has no external existence before commentary. A review of the epistemological and theoretical principles of the subjective approach to interpret religious texts is the best means of confronting the negative effects it has. Using a descriptive-analytical method, the present paper underlines the relationship between the subjective approach and three central concepts of "reality", "language", and "method". According to the subjective approach, there is no such reality as conformity and if there, it is relative. This approach also holds that there is no method to achieve reality and the language does not reflect it. Accordingly, the commentary in the sense of attaining the reality through language and method is impossible. According to rational principles, however, commentary consists of reality as the feature of the problem, language as the means of conveying the meaning, and method as the way of attaining it.