Must dismiss whatever Sandwichman is saying as a pointless waste of time. Must dismiss whatever Sandwichman is saying as a pointless waste of time. Must dismiss whatever Sandwichman is saying as a fucking waste of time.
Can't you at least try to be a little less predictable, Dr. Devine? On Mon, Jun 4, 2012 at 8:17 AM, Jim Devine <[email protected]> wrote: > Tom Walker wrote: > > .... I would be wary of > > the "common sense" of the word, which, like "popular culture" refers not > to > > some inherent common sense or popular culture but to manufactured and > > commercially-promoted ones. > > I wasn't appealing to "inherent common sense." Just because a word > has a common-sense meaning doesn't mean that that meaning is > "correct."[*] All the common-sense meaning says is that if you talk > to regular people -- i.e., those outside of pen-l -- and you use the > word "sabotage" in some other sense, you will likely have a hard time > communicating. > > > Furthermore, my original point (and Veblen's and Giovannitti's) was > > precisely about CONTESTING the received meanings of such strategically > vital > > terms, as dictated by the partisans of capital. > > Contesting the common-sense, popular, or received meanings of any word > is not worth the effort. It's just the standard and pointless academic > game of arguing about the meanings of words ("You're using the word > 'sabotage' incorrectly; what 'sabotage' REALLY means (as some > authority figure tells us) is that...") I'm all in favor of > definitions, but they are for clarifying one's thought, not as some > sort of appeal to authority. (After all, authorities are often wrong.) > That is, I'd say that "I'm using the word 'sabotage' to mean X, even > though this is not the usual meaning." However, it's good to realize > when one's non-standard definition doesn't fit with commonsensical > usages. If you want to communicate with people, maybe compromising > with common sense is a good idea. > > -- > Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own > way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante. > > [*] No word has a "correct" meaning, since any meanings are > unconscious social creations. It's true that meanings are often shaped > by public relations efforts and the like, but the latter should not be > seen as having total power; PR efforts often fail or counteract each > other. It's not as if concepts are (imperfect) reflections of some > ideal form as Plato wold have it, so that our effort should be to > perfect the definition to match the ideal. > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > -- Cheers, Tom Walker (Sandwichman)
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