Re: Are temperatures finally descending? Not so fast...

[Doug Alan <nessus@athena.mit.edu>]

> [IUD:] Now, perhaps in some ultimate sense all of these things can
> be traced back to subjective values, but that's hardly relevant for
> practical purposes.

It's damn important!  It's pretty darn easy for you to sweep a glaring
and fundamentally intractable philosophical problem under the rug with
a sweep of your pen, isn't it?  But, gee that's a darn huge lump
you've got under your rug, Mr. Marvick.

> By saying that all judgements are equally subjective, you are not
> being "objective"--you are just giving yourself an excuse for
> failing to offer any intelligent _reasons_ for your _own_ judgement.

I've given you plenty of intelligent "reasons" for many of my
judgments.  I never said that in a discussion you shouldn't offer
intelligent reasoning.  What's the point of discussion otherwise?  But
you are never going to be able to offer proof for a judgement, nor
does your judgement, no matter how well argued, represent any sort of
higher reality.  Ultimately, art criticism is only a political act --
not anything really having to do with the real quality or lack there
of in the art itself.  The purpose of art criticism to be either to
make the critic more money and fame -- or if that's not what is
desired, it is an attempt to promote the type of art that the critic
enjoys or thinks is better, or what have you, so that there will be
more of it and the world (in the the critic's model of the world) will
be a better place.

|>oug

"O is for OLIVE run through with an awl"