Conflicting interpretive standards point to contested origins, not better absolutes.

Evidence

The radically differing standards of judgment do not, however, suggest the need for still better touchstones, still firmer absolutes; rather, they ought to remind us that it is the nature of interpretation to send us back to the problems raised by interpretation itself, to asking the questions for whom, for what purpose, and why such an interpretation is more convincing in this context than in that. Interpretation, knowledge, and, as Matthew Arnold said, culture itself are always the result of contests and not simply a gift from heaven. — Edward W. Said, Covering Islam, 357

Categorization

• XREF: Culture as contest rather than gift echoes the reader’s work on moral panics as socially constructed contests over meaning. — connects to: Quantification always depends on contested conventions, not neutral measurement. — Ève Chiapello, Financialisation of Valuation, 10; Housing regulation disputes hinge on whether standards mean health or decency, not mere enforcement — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process: Basic Problems in…, 399