[lit-ideas] Re: Nietzsche & truth
- From: "Eric Dean" <ecdean99@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2005 02:27:50 +0000
Robert Paul writes:
"One might wonder what defending a position in this case would amount to.
What grounds other than aesthetic would there be for preferring one
narrative over another?"
John McCreery cites Chomsky on "Evaluation procedures" to answer this
question. Disliking Chomsky as much as I do, I prefer a different, though I
confess somewhat related answer.
I'd ask whether 'aesthetic' can include a notion of accuracy or
effectiveness. One of the things I think goes for making a good story is
that it have the appropriate sort of 'realism' to it. Just what makes for
the right sort of realism varies widely. A retelling of a myth has to be
realistic with respect to the myth, irrespective of how 'realistic' we
otherwise might think the myth is. Fitzgerald aspired to a different,
though related, sort of realism. We look to the leaders of institutions to
tell 'realistic' stories too, where in their case the relevant form realism
is different yet again. We might even say we expect scientists to tell
'realistic' stories where the relevant form of realism is different as well.
We don't ask the scientist reporting an experimental result to give us a
vivid psychological portrait of the experimenter in her laboratory. We
don't ask Fitzgerald to get subatomic physics right. What makes for a
'realistic' psychological portrait and a 'realistic' account of subatomic
physics are very different. Why do those differences all need to be
reconciled into a unified notion of Truth? And why does the fact that
they're hard to reconcile mean there's no sense in which there's something
consistent about how they all have to be realistic to be successful?
I'm unsure why 'aesthetically preferrable' *has* to be distinguished from
'truthful', which isn't to say that all aesthetic preferances must follow
the accuracy gradiant, just that the two aren't as inimical as the heat of
the debate might suggest.
Eric Dean
Rockford IL
(back in my own home for a few days...)
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