Paul Brandon wrote:
I haven't read this article, but I do occasionally read him for amusement.
He's a philosopher, which means that he doesn't feel any need to tie his
statements to reality, and has no appreciation for systematic data
collection.
Internal consistency is all!
Sounds like he's talking about himself.
Fish's degree is in English and he is a prominent
deconstructionist. I think he would agree with Paul that he
doesn't feel any need to tie his statements to reality because he
questions the existence of "reality."
A famous story illustrates Fish's view:
"A simple illustration of interpretive communities is Fish's
story of baseball umpire Bill Klem, who once waited a long time
to call a particular pitch. "Well, is it a ball or strike," the
player asked impatiently. To which Klem replied, "Sonny, it ain't
nothing 'til I call it" - saying, in effect, that balls and
strikes are not facts in the world but "come into being only on
the call of an umpire." This example shows how his scholarship
questions our conventional assumptions about fairness, justice,
and truth."
from http://www.biographybase.com/biography/Fish_Stanley.html
But substitute "surgeon" for "umpire" and "liver" for "strike"
and "lung" for "ball." I'm glad Fish doesn't teach in a med school.
Ken
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Kenneth M. Steele, Ph.D. [email protected]
Professor
Department of Psychology http://www.psych.appstate.edu
Appalachian State University
Boone, NC 28608
USA
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