Any horse who seeks eternal life should join our forum. On this forum there
are no dead horses. So, contrary to William's frequent criticism, I can't be
kicking one,
No matter how often I stress that fuzziness of notion is a matter of degree,
that, though a notion is never perfectly clear, it very frequently reaches a
degree of clarity that we may call "serviceable" -- as in the notion behind,
"Please pass the carrots" -- we have Saul commenting, "Ipso facto everything
is fuzzy and nothing is because the other is an impossibility."
He writes this immediately after reading a post in which I say these things:
"very often our effort turns to finding a word or phrase to "express" the
blurry notion before we've cleared up the focus to a serviceable degree"
"How could he possibly figure I was looking for "clear and distinct" ideas
when I specifically convey I am only looking for a "serviceable degree" of
clarity? ('Serviceable' is another word I've elaborated on to an extent William
has
found tedious in the extreme. I hope William has noticed that, despite how
often I stress the serviceability of a line like, "Please pass the carrots,"
listers still maintain that since I feel communication can never be perfect I
must feel no communication at all is possible.)"
"I explicitly urge speakers to sharpen their "notion into as clear a degree
as you can manage". It didn't occur to Brian to reflect on why I don't say,
"sharpen them until they are clear and distinct."
" But it's a matter of the degree of sinfulness. I indicate the fuzzy edges
of a phrase like, "the river", but I go on to say, " Still, 'the river' can be
serviceable, and in fact it usually is."
Saul reads all this, and yet he believes what I've said implies that
"everything is fuzzy and nothing is because the other is an impossibility." No
matter
how many times or ways I try to convey it, Saul cannot grasp the notion of
degrees of fuzziness.
As I recall I said last summer that Saul just doesn't have the head for
philosophy, and certainly not for philosophy of art. I continue to believe that.
**************
Create a Home Theater Like the Pros. Watch the video on AOL
Home.
(http://home.aol.com/diy/home-improvement-eric-stromer?video=15&
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