[MD] Matt and DMB disagree?

[Matt Kundert]

DMB said:
The reality behind the maya is what? The "brutal thrusts of reality" sounds 
like some kind of physical enviroment. It suggests an objective reality that 
we can't access directly, no? This also suggests some version of SOM, no? Or 
are you equating DQ with these "brutal thrusts'? That would be a lot like 
the undifferentiated aesthetic continuum - only meaner? Its hard to imagine. 
Anyway, you'd have to tell me what that means. But it looks to me like you 
got the same translation problem here too. The "reality" behind the maya is 
DQ.

Matt:
"Brutal thrusts of reality" does sound like some kind of physical 
environment, but it does _not_ suggest an "objective reality that we can't 
access directly."  So, no, it doesn't suggest SOM.

What I interpret Rorty as saying is that it doesn't make any sense to 
describe DQ, the undifferentiated aesthetic continuum, or the "world outside 
of description" as being something that we should respect because we don't 
respect the hammer hitting our thumbs, it's just something we have to deal 
with.  Not meaner, but there is a certain brutal quality to DQ insofar as it 
just happens to us, unpredictably.  When DQ happens, we react to it, and we 
then weave static patterns around it.  That's the short of it.

But I like that you used scare quotes around "reality."  I would've 
appreciated even more had you used scare quotes around "behind," because it 
is exactly that sense that makes one suspect the appearance/reality 
distinction that you emphasize is not in play.

DMB said:
You think I object to essays because they're too long? Okay, now you're just 
being silly. My complaints were about failing to engage with the other guy's 
point and those complaints are applicible to both long and short forms.

Matt:
No, I don't know why you object to essays.  I've been speculating for some 
time.

And please, if you want to talk about engaging with the other guy's point, 
we can talk after you've engaged some of the essays I've written for the 
Essay Forum.

Everybody makes choices on what they want to engage.  I don't _have_ to 
engage you DMB.  You don't _have_ to engage me.  We do so because we feel 
compelled to once in a while, but I don't always feel compelled to.  I feel 
compelled when you bring something interesting to the table.  That's always 
when compulsion grips people and I'm not sure how a person is elsewise 
supposed to make that decision (outside of being told by an authority figure 
or wanting to make a career for yourself in a discipline).

So--consider how I "engage" you flaky if you want.  It makes no difference 
to me because I still feel confident in what I do (given that I openly 
acknowledge holes that aren't addressed that I would, if I were reading, 
want addressed).  You think I haven't addressed your points.  I just wish 
you understood how hard it is to address a point when you think it misses 
the point.

But you _do_ understand that because you feel the same thing about me.  So 
where's the charity?  I've been trying to give it to you, but it always 
becomes hard when you start acting like a bitch about it.

Matt

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