On 5/18/06, Omar Kusturica <omarkusto@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
1) The "self" is a uniquely modern idea or product.
2) There is something about "modern self" that is unique and distinct from pre-modern (or un-modern ?) selves.
I don't see how either implication would be sustainable without some fairly precise definition.
Is a portrait, a novel, a well-written piece of narrative history a definition? There are many sustainable ways of advancing knowledge or arguments that do not depend on definitions and deductions from definitions. The classic sterility of "purely semantic discussions" is, arguably, the direct result of starting with definitions instead of from observations that can be arranged in plausible, even useful, patterns while eschewing any claim to be definitive.
See, J.L. Austin, How to Do Things with Words
Howard Becker, Tricks of the Trade
George Lakoff, Women, Fire and Dangerous Things-- John McCreery The Word Works, Ltd., Yokohama, JAPAN
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