[lit-ideas] Re: Tune in and turn off
- From: Donal McEvoy <donalmcevoyuk@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 2 May 2006 10:44:16 +0100 (BST)
--- Robert Paul <robert.paul@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Because of the order in which I read my mail I responded to Carol
> somewhat along the lines that Donal does here. (It's always nice to find
> oneself on the side of truth and beauty.)
Truth, yes. Beauty, no.
> I have a quibble though. 'I feel that this is a contradiction?etc.' can
> be expressed as 'I believe that this is a contradiction?etc.,' while
> such a substitution doesn't really work in 'I feel numb?' or 'I feel
> insulted.' Not too much can be infered about the ontology of feeling
> from the accidents of grammar.
1. I agree with the view that we can differentiate sensory experience (such
as pinching the skin) from feeling tired - and also from cognitive states.
2. However we could _say_ 'I believe myself insulted' and 'I believe myself
to be feeling numb'. The latter in particular sounds awkward but we could
perhaps still understand it; and we might conceive circumstances where it
would make sense to bring belief into play in stating whether we are feeling
numb or not (e.g. a person still disoriented from anaesthetic who, coming
round, expresses themselves speculatively when asked whether they feel numb
in a limb - 'I believe myself to be feeling numb in my left leg but it could
be just I'm still half out of it').
3. In ordinary cases we are often confident or feel certain about what we
'feel' in terms of being pinched or tickled or numb etc. - that is perhaps
why saying 'I believe that I feel...' seems awkward or wrong in such cases,
for 'I believe' often has connotations of 'uncertainty' or the 'realistic
possibility of error'. [Coming across a body after a road accident we might,
after making certain checks, say 'I believe he/she is dead' - but it might
seem at best humourous to say this if we came across a charred and headless
body].
4. I agree with Robert Paul's last remark (I think), especially if we
understand it as warning that "accidents of grammar" need not be a reliable
guide to the reality of things.
Donal
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