On 6 Sep 2007 at 9:39, Johannes Gebauer wrote: > On 06.09.2007 David W. Fenton wrote: > > Perhaps my whole opinion on this is colored by the fact that I first > > encountered the whole thing in an oral paper delivered by Rifkin in > > 1985, just about the time he was first publishing. I've watched his > > ideas develop over the years, but there has always been a degree of > > righteous indignation in the tone with which he makes his arguments. > > > > Now, it could be that his opponents are just as self-righteous, but I > > haven't encountered them in person, so have no way to know. > > > > But the attitude that I've seen Rifkin exhibit is very much what > > Taruskin was reacting against in his screeds against the concept of > > authenticity in the early music movement. > > So the personality of the scientist makes his conclusions wrong? Weak?
No, not at all -- it's a matter of tone, and what the tone in which an argument is delivered implies about what the researcher thinks the argument means. Rifkin's tone has always seemed to me overblown and tends to make people react against his case, which has always been intriguing to me from the beginning (though I wouldn't be dogmatic about applying it). > Come on, just because you don't like the way he presents his ideas > doesn't mean the ideas are wrong. > > He has to be dogmatic. Every good scientist has to be dogmatic. I disagree. -- David W. Fenton http://dfenton.com David Fenton Associates http://dfenton.com/DFA/ _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
