From: Geoff <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Malcolm Gladwell and beliefs)
To: [email protected]
Date: Thursday, January 1, 2009, 11:11 AM
William: For what it's worth, we're approaching
convergence on "fictions". I
would say that our reality is "constructed" (not
fictional) and that we
"construct" based on both observations which we
know are 'fictional" and
"factual".
I agree that my communications on the list is impaired by
my lack of
background in philosophy and creative activity. I am little
able to perceive
your position purely in philosophical terms.
----- Original Message -----
From: "William Conger"
<[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, December 31, 2008 4:29 PM
Subject: Re: Malcolm Gladwell and beliefs)
>I never said that one truth is as good as another.
There is such a state
>as true fiction and false fiction. Again, by fiction I
mean the necessity
>of our reinventing the stream of experience not only as
we experience it
>but as we recall it, too. That reinvention is always
partial and biased,
>and thus it is fictional. There is, in my view, no
alternative to this.
>That's why in court several witnesses are better
than one, or why 12 jurors
>are better than one, or why cross examination is aimed
at teasing out the
>correspondences among overlapping reinventions of past
events. Several
>reinventions of the same event can produce more likely
evidence than one.
>
> I think you are simplifying my view by testing it in
everyday terms
> instead of philosophically. I admit my terms may not
be everyday usage,
> such as "fiction versus actuality" but I
have tried to be clear in stating
> my more complex way of using such terms because this
is that sort of
> dialogue, not everyday conversation.
> WC
>
>
> --- On Wed, 12/31/08, GEOFF CREALOCK
<[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> From: GEOFF CREALOCK
<[email protected]>
>> Subject: Re: Malcolm Gladwell and beliefs)
>> To: [email protected]
>> Date: Wednesday, December 31, 2008, 2:57 PM
>> William: Given your statement, cited by Cheerskep,
"All
>> stories are based on
>> memory. All memories are fiction" I wonder if
you
>> would feel constrained if
>> you were required to "tell the truth, the
whole truth,
>> and nothing but the
>> truth". Presumably one fiction is as good, or
better
>> than another.
>> Geoff C
>>
>>
>> >From: [email protected]
>> >Reply-To: [email protected]
>> >To: [email protected]
>> >Subject: Re: Malcolm Gladwell and beliefs)
>> >Date: Wed, 31 Dec 2008 15:19:15 EST
>> >
>> >Here is what you "actually say",
William:
>> >
>> > > "there are numerous factual
histories of the
>> American Revolution". . .
>> >each
>> > > one is fictional to some degree"
>> > >
>> >Please tell us what your word is for those
portions
>> that are NOT fictional
>> >to
>> >any degree.
>> >
>> >This is also what you "actually
said":
>> >
>> >"All stories are based on memory. All
memories are
>> fiction."
>> >
>> >It is that universal that caught my interest.
Do you
>> now want to modify it
>> >to
>> >put it this way?: "All stories are based
on memory
>> to some degree. All
>> >memories are fiction to some degree."
>> >
>> >
>> >**************
>> >New year...new news. Be the
>> >first to know what is making headlines.
>>
>(http://www.aol.com/?ncid=emlcntaolcom00000026)
