Old Email Archive

digest 1998-11-19 #001.txt


Wednesday
From: "Society for Literature & Science" 

Daily SLS Email Digest
-> Re: the truth in plain language, epistemological confidence
by Everdell@aol.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 18 Nov 1998 10:12:33 -0800
From: Everdell@aol.com
Subject: Re: the truth in plain language, epistemological confidence
In a message dated 11/10/98 3:32:04 AM, Joseph Duemer wrote:
<<>
I note that here, in trying, quite successfully to get others to
understand
what he means, Joseph Duemer uses very plain language for Americans, a
southern colloquialism "hunky-dory."
<>
But in fact, I agree with this, eloquent though I find it.  My only
disagreement is that I think that some things are genuinely true, and
that
although I'm not entirely sure what they are, I can describe in language
the
various degrees of assurance I have about them with some hope of being
understood and enough egoism to ask for understanding.  Scientists can
be
guilty of arrogance without necessarily being guilty of
"promulgat[ing] an
impoverished view of the world because they misunderstand the nature of
language."  So can literary people who undermine faith in all our
efforts to
speak plainly without providing anything in their place beyond
bloviations of
their own.