another of shusterman's contributions to the theory of interpretation is his critique of a widely held view he calls 'hermeneutic universalism', and attributes to hans-georg gadamer, alexander nehamas and stanley fish, among others. agreeing with basic anti-foundationalist thrust of the hermeneutic universalists' position, shusterman simultaneously rejects their thesis that "to perceive, read, understand, or behave at all intelligently ... must always be to interpret" and seeks to refute it with many original arguments. he also insists that the notion of interpretation needs a contrasting category to guarantee its own meaningfulness. if everything is interpretation then the concept loses its point. shusterman argues that immediate, non-interpretive understanding can serve that role of contrast. inspired by wittgenstein and heidegger's theory of hermeneutic circle, shusterman proposes: