>Carolyn Tyjewski wrote:
>> Models and theories aren't, weren't and shouldn't be used to solve real
>> problems. Models and theories are designed to explain and or examine life
>> (in a nut shell). Pretending otherwise, only creates unnecessary
>> frustration.
>
and Dona responded:
(snip)
>
>I dunno, Carolyn; this empirical way you have of judging life's
>situations seems (extra) cockeyed here. To spend my career on
>theorizing, without enjoying results, seems, well, like coitus
>interruptus.
>
I don't actually think that Carolyn's comments represent 'an empirical way
of judging things.' I think we *can* spend a career theorising and not
enjoying results and I think there are some who engage in 'intellectual
masturbation' without any thought to the outcomes it has. In the disability
field 'intellectual masturbation' can be just another way of objectifying
disabled people and disability and this is why it's important to try to
make theory useful. I agree with Dona about the traditions of feminism and
race studies being grounded in 'good' theory, but I also feel that Carolyn
is really emphasising that models and theories are representations of
'life's situations.' As with all representations, there are gaps between
what the theorist knows (or thinks they know) and what the practitioner
needs. Outcomes are not always observable or measurable immediately.
Moreover many of these representations are simplistic, usually because they
reflect a particular ideology or value system. and I think that is
something that is more true of models than of theories. It occurs to me
that I actually feel suspicious of anything that is called 'a model' for
this reason. All of this shows why theory is important, but it must be
reflexive, critical theory and yes, Dona, it must be of some use. But
comments like ' If you don't know where you are going it makes it hard to
get there?' spring to mind.
Best wishes
Mairian
Mairian Corker
Senior Research Fellow in Deaf and Disability Studies
Department of Education Studies
University of Central Lancashire
Preston PR1 2HE
Address for correspondence:
111 Balfour Road
Highbury
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U.K.
Minicom/TTY +44 [0]171 359 8085
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"To understand what I am doing, you need a third eye"
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