RE: arguing with the tide

And my degree of "certitude," what there is of it, concerning these
particular matters, comes only from spending a great many years with these
specific texts. I have almost none of it in any other aspect of my work or
my life. Ask around.
John O.
 
John, I remember quite a bit of certainty from you concerning American
politics, world politics, and some askew social commentary. I also remember
quite a bit of certainty from you on things such as the nature of truth and
universals, at least what the socially acceptable position should be. You
seemed certain that Kurt was classy and you seem certain in your values.
Daniel

When I am at work, I most certainly have no word from any mountain. No
teacher does. It's quite the opposite, in fact. All I do is read texts and
discuss them specifically and formulate my own interpretations of them.
And, like all teachers everywhere, I then present those interpretations
(complete with all the ideology and rhetorics of desire that accompany
them), to a class at some point, always as my own singular readings. I am
careful to support those interpretations with the specific language of the
text and request that others, when they make assertions about those texts or
their authors, do the same. If they are unable to do so, I become
suspicious of their original claims. Teachers who claim to have the Truth,
who claim to come to class with external truth separated from desire and
politics and rhetoric and power; teachers who claim that they are there to
present or even "discover" the absolute truth for the class are in fact
liars and con artists. It is they who are the ones filled with the pretty
illusion of an unselfconscious certitude. And they should not ever be
trusted. Ever.
John O.
 
Again you sound certain, at least of your method. For one who poo-poos
Absolute Truth you display an off allot of certainty that what you believe
applies to everyone else as well. Hey, just observing, call me Daniel the
funhouse mirror of illusion
Daniel

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Received on Wed Jul 16 11:02:57 2003