tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10721624.post3576501602954391260..comments2023-10-30T12:26:15.822+01:00Comments on Research as a Second Language: The Prose of the WorldThomashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858865501469168339noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10721624.post-81700899093272756902011-11-17T16:30:27.205+01:002011-11-17T16:30:27.205+01:00BTW, thanks Thomas for that link to Hegel. I'l...BTW, thanks Thomas for that link to Hegel. I'll be bloggin about it next week.Thomashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04858865501469168339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10721624.post-42692154910181702612011-11-17T16:28:55.969+01:002011-11-17T16:28:55.969+01:00I recently had a weird argument with a PhD student...I recently had a weird argument with a PhD student who refused to distinguish between the meaning of:<br /><br />Jones defines X as...<br />Jones describes X as...<br />Jones approaches X as...<br />Jones argues that X is...<br /><br />I was trying to show that the words we choose matters. He insisted that there'd be no difference here. I felt that sensation Jonathan notes above: the reversal of the poles.<br /><br />I did get the student to agree that there's a difference between:<br /><br />Jones claims that...<br />and<br />Jones denies that...<br /><br />(He balked here saying "yes, well, obviously!)<br /><br />I dunno. Maybe he was twenty-something. But I think he's a bit older.Thomashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04858865501469168339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10721624.post-68039410946691370942011-11-15T21:53:21.822+01:002011-11-15T21:53:21.822+01:00You capture an impression of my twenty-something s...You capture an impression of my twenty-something students: they do not see the claims made by others as forming a hierarchy of better and worse claims. It's all just a bunch of viewpoints, each of which is valid in its own way. They seem to have little sense that a particular viewpoint could be demonstrably wrong.<br /><br />One effect of this in Switzerland is that lots of people take homeopathic medicine ...Andrew Shieldshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02804655739574694901noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10721624.post-59127509173054311392011-11-14T08:55:18.370+01:002011-11-14T08:55:18.370+01:00I've researched the "the prose of the wor...I've researched the "the prose of the world"-bit... I like such puzzles..<br /><br />And it appears, that it is, in fact, not something that Hegel said of Roman State. In the Philosophy of History, Hegel spoke of the Roman state as expressing "the prose of history", "the prose of life" and "the prose of Spirit".<br /><br />But (and this is perhaps of interest to your use of the phrase at the Pangrammaticon) the phrase "the prose of the world" is from from his description of Roman art in the Lectures on Fine Arts:<br /><br />http://books.google.dk/books?id=ia4itFh1RhsC&printsec=frontcover&dq=editions:CNB3NQRD9Y0C&hl=da&ei=08TATpaiNc_c4QTqr-TABA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22prose%20of%20the%20world%22&f=false<br /><br />The concept of "prose", however, is generally used somewhat disdainful by Hegel:<br /><br />Prose is the Roman art and it expresses the constraints imposed on the individual by the world. <br /><br />It is preceded by Poetry - the Greek art - which express the organic unity of world and spirit. <br /><br />And it is followed by the roman-tic art of Hegel's own time, which expresses the freedom of the individual.Presskornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03480116067878605339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10721624.post-64676697777692523652011-11-08T17:29:37.064+01:002011-11-08T17:29:37.064+01:00So a belief in factual writing is a form of "...So a belief in factual writing is a form of "magical thinking" now? The poles are reversed? After all, nobody doubts that language is capable of lying or of creating elaborate fictions...Jonathanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09371893596402673898noreply@blogger.com