tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1247368540862329841.post4202878002872054594..comments2023-06-07T08:50:33.280-05:00Comments on Immanent Transcendence: Why Reading Is a Lost Artkhadimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960757465883819380noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1247368540862329841.post-47490883305789005442012-05-25T18:19:19.954-05:002012-05-25T18:19:19.954-05:00Matt,
Whenever someone accuses you of making asse...Matt,<br /><br />Whenever someone accuses you of making assertions, which may or may not be correct, do not let them perform the following common rhetorical move (rhetorical in the sense of taking command of the performative aspect of communication) that is also a form of ancient skepticism. Sometimes an interlocutor will demand ever more and more explanation, and at some point it becomes impractical to answer the repeated questions, and the person takes it as a sign that one does not know. That interlocutor will often attribute their own misinterpretation for your mistaken ideas. When you point this out to that person, and the the person disagrees, then at some point you should cease communicating if it is not productive.<br /><br />That said, it is true that many people do not truly understand the positions that they hold, and while this is true of all of us in some respect, for professionals there should be a limited tolerance of this. Being in graduate school or having a doctorate counts as being a "professional" by the way. Professionalization implies adhering to standards of conduct that others need not, and that includes calling someone out in certain contexts.<br /><br />Philosophy is not primarily about explanation in my view, but understanding. The former connotes linguistic communication, whereas the latter connotes wise action. This becomes a crucial difference in orthopraxic philosophies.<br /><br />Yes, thoughts are not the same as words, and that is precisely why my point about understanding the metaphors by which to think a philosophic concept is so crucial, especially if one is to work in more than one tradition, which is more than just reading another tradition's books.<br /><br />Have you read any Schleiermacher or Dilthey? Basically, 19th and 20th century hermeneutics? They discuss this in great detail, though its been too long for me to remember my own thoughts as distinct from how they put it.<br /><br />Yes, re-wording almost always changes a meaning. Likewise, "wording" or communicating at all changes a thought's meaning. In that sense, the act is truer than the word though far less communicative most of the time.khadimirhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12960757465883819380noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1247368540862329841.post-29865284000404451782012-05-25T17:54:17.827-05:002012-05-25T17:54:17.827-05:00This hits home. I usually assume I haven't bee...This hits home. I usually assume I haven't been "clear" enough when something I've written is misinterpreted. But it's a two way street. I've been accused of not making arguments but merely asserting propositions, which may be a fair criticism. But I don't see philosophy as primarily about explanation or demonstration. As Whitehead put it, philosophy seeks "sheer disclosure," in a way similar to poetry. It begins and ends in wonder. Philosophcal systems are never refuted, only abandoned. Schelling similarly wrote that philosophy is not demonstrative, but generative, like artwork. Either philosophical language transforms our perception of a problem, or it doesn't. Words and thoughts are obviously entangled, but contra nominalism, thoughts do not = words. Words are like mneumonic devices to help remind readers of the soul's silent speech. Speaking and writing are always already a form of translation of something eternal and universal into something historical and particular. <br /><br />Incidentally, it is on the issue of style in philosophy that I really jive with Graham Harman. Re-wording a difficult or "unclear" statement almost always changes the statement's meaning. <br />-MattMatthew T. Segallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09094870514161016656noreply@blogger.com