david,
if you ask your librarian what kind of books are found in the non-fiction
section, he or she might tell you that non-fiction books are about what
actually happened, what is true, histories, biographies, and factual
accounts, while the fiction section contains books that do not make such
claims, are about writers' imaginary world constructions.
all i did is chiming with teena saying (my paraphrase) that everything
written is written from a particular perspective, are colored by ideological
lenses and vested interest in the subject matter, relying on a vocabulary
and syntactical structures that cannot possibly accurately represent what
actually happened. although people might believe reading non-fiction gains
then access to what actually happened, this belief is illusionary.
i do not know what is so difficult to understand here -- except that the
librarian is probably not an epistemologist and might believe that reality
could be accessed that way.
klaus
-----Original Message-----
From: PhD-Design - This list is for discussion of PhD studies and related
research in Design [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of David
Sless
Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 2:10 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Is all writing fiction?
I still don't know how to value what you say.
You say:
> if non-fiction means describing the world as is -- unframed by the
> language used to describe it and without acknowledging its
> conceptualization by your nervous system
But does non-fiction mean this in any context in which we normally use the
term? Moreover how can I 'describe' an 'it' if there is no 'it' to which I
have access, and which I can describe?
This seems to me like playing with language and abstractions, taking the
word 'non-fiction' out of its normal context and then doing things with it
that make it seem something else. I think you are doing the same with the
words 'describe', 'it', and 'conceptualisation'. I'm prepared to go so far
as to say that my 'nervous system' does not conceptualise anything. Only
people and aliens can conceptualise. You are talking across quite different
contexts of language use.
I go back to the library example. I can tell you without controversy that,
irrespective of whatever my nervous system might be doing, I KNOW the
library is in the world-just round the corner in fact-and that I know
roughly what sort of books I will find in the fiction and non-fiction
sections. This is the way we talk about these things IN LANGUAGE, and get on
with things in the world.
Perhaps it would be better to make the distinction you want to make in some
other way. BTW, as you know, I too am a constructionist!
David
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