[lit-ideas] Re: Ashberyiana/Popperiania
- From: "Donal McEvoy" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> (Redacted sender "donalmcevoyuk" for DMARC)
- To: "lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 10 Sep 2017 08:59:14 +0000 (UTC)
As McEvoy would say, there's something Popperian about Ashbery.>
I really wouldn't. I wouldn't drag Popper into these kinds of debates where his
work has very little to contribute.
Of course, JLS may be making a pointed joke - "if past experience is any
indicator" may be taken as encapsulating an inductive view point, which would
be inimical to Popper. But here is a typical problem: "past experience" may
also be an "indicator" within a non-inductive/hypothetico-deductive approach.
It is possible to cleave out from this kind of expression ("past experience" as
"indicator") any number of distinct philosophical positions; and so it is very
tenuous to interpret these expressions - made outside philosophical debate - as
if they indicate a clear cut philosophical position.
Popper himself may have once made this mistake when referring to Joyce's
"stream of consciousness" as if this expression denoted a specific
philosophical position on how the mind works (perhaps someone more informed can
tell us whether Joyce intended it this way?). The expression, originating with
William James, may be taken to be quite distinct when it pertains to a style of
writing which tries to simulate how the mind works as if a "stream of
consciousness" [a la Joyce] as opposed to when it is unpacked to denote a
philosophical position that, for example, takes the mind as a stream of
consciously experienced 'data' (as the mind is taken to be in many forms of
"empiricism"). In other words, Joyce may not be committing any kind of
philosophical mistake in developing a literary aesthetic in terms of "stream of
consciousness", and it may be a mistake to treat him as if he were.
It may only confuse matters to drag a thinker like Popper into debates where
his work has no direct relevance. That's what "McEvoy would say".
DL
From: Luigi Speranza <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Saturday, 9 September 2017, 22:19
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Ashberyiana
T. Fjeld quotes from Ashbery:
He was raising himself, like a pudding on a platter. ‘You guys know where you
are? I’m trying to figure out what in hell’s going on. So is he too,’ he
added, waving his fork at the piebald host, who pressed a napkin to his
exquisite lip.
‘No need to panic, folks. Our friend is but the first in a series that may
well turn out to be infinite, if past experience is any indicator.’
The clock is running over, and an octopus wears my wallet now.
As McEvoy woul say, there's something Popperian about Ashbery.
Cheers,
Speranza
-- Ashbery's "French Poems" are in English. Is this unfalsifiable?
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