tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5455277388900637928.post1274912978437715725..comments2024-03-19T02:14:31.704-04:00Comments on <center>OnFiction</center>: Research Bulletin: Scene in the ImaginationKeith Oatleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16419339550879570935noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5455277388900637928.post-78537557194944142532010-06-13T22:08:47.955-04:002010-06-13T22:08:47.955-04:00Thank you Mark. I do agree that things are more co...Thank you Mark. I do agree that things are more complicated, much more complicated than I indicate here. The truth is far closer to what you suggest, with many effects from different kinds of language. We can see this, I think, when we look at the kinds of effects that are achieved by different writers. What excites me about work of the kind that Summerfield, Hassabis and Maguire are doing is that at last there is a meeting of cognitive and neuro-scientific research with the kinds of analyses that literary theorists like Elaine Scarry are making.<br /><br />I am delighted you like our blog. Thanks very much for your appreciation. And thanks too for your kind words about my novel, <i>Therefore choose.</i>Keith Oatleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16419339550879570935noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5455277388900637928.post-36801371138766123612010-06-13T14:03:54.763-04:002010-06-13T14:03:54.763-04:00Keith,
This is interesting. However, I wonder whe...Keith,<br />This is interesting. However, I wonder whether it might not be just a bit more complicated. How do we distinguish between "descriptive" and non-descriptive words? <br /> <br />The problem I am anticipating comes out a debate in the philosophy of language about the role that proper names and indexicals/demonstratives ("this", "that", "I", "here", "today") play in contributing to the content of propositions. It looks, at first glance, as though these words lack any descriptive content. "John Smith" just means the person. However--venturing to take a view about something when I haven't kept up with the literature--there do seem to be proper names that acquire descriptive content. (e.g., "Hitler" or "Napoleon") <br /><br />This does not affect the substance of what you are saying; but the connection between specific words and the thought in the mind of an audience might not be so easily discerned.<br /><br />On the other hand (at the risk of contradicting myself), maybe the phenomena I mention above are more occasion-specific, and need not concern<br />a writer. I'm not sure...<br /><br />Perhaps, I should have begun these remarks with the words: "For what it's worth..."<br /><br />I remain a regular reader of "On Fiction" and do so with consistent pleasure.<br />Mark L.<br /><br />PS: I've also managed to read your new novel, and it has provided me with much stimulation which I hope someday can be channeled into a piece of writing... Briefly, I don't know that "existentialism" actually does get to the bottom of the truths about human action and ignorance,... though I do think (having been forced to think about it largely because of what you've written) it contains some fantastic insights...formerly a wage slavehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16064562730082906589noreply@blogger.com