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author | grr <grr@lo2.org> | 2024-05-20 18:22:26 -0400 |
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committer | grr <grr@lo2.org> | 2024-05-20 18:22:26 -0400 |
commit | 28e602e3c6ff6aeb54d8b3ecba19034db804430f (patch) | |
tree | df5de01d1a0b87c8ce4da84078823a47da148241 | |
parent | a8c30bfac510e67e851c22842794f0059ffa81ff (diff) | |
download | blueprint-28e602e3c6ff6aeb54d8b3ecba19034db804430f.tar.gz |
add essay about misleading concept of newness
-rw-r--r-- | extra/misleading_newness.tex | 104 |
1 files changed, 104 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/extra/misleading_newness.tex b/extra/misleading_newness.tex new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d8c7a9b --- /dev/null +++ b/extra/misleading_newness.tex @@ -0,0 +1,104 @@ +\chapter{The Supererogatory, Misleading Notion of "Newness" (1960, 1975)} + +\signoff{\uline{From ``Culture'' to Brend}, Addition, Chapter 4.} + +\vskip 2em + +Quite apart from Serious Culture, metaphysics[, +Serious Cultural Neoism]; in "culture" a production is sometimes +said to ha "new." A production is sometimes said to be (positively) +valuable because it is "new." There are controversies over whether +productions are "new;". and over what "real newness" is. There +are controversies over whether "newness" is good or bad. In general, +there is the notion of "newness," not limited to "culture": things +are said to be "new;" things are said to be valuable because "new" +--- here is the vague, general, valuational notion of "newness." + +A few "culture" producers, taking this existing vague +valuational notion of "newness" for granted, try to produce "culture" +(which is (for the present, to be appreciated now; all +right, but) valuable entirely because it is "new";) which is +primarily "new," is "new," "different" \uline{as such}; without any +thought of other value, irrespective of its other characteristics. +In their attempt, one thing they do is the intellectualistic, +consciously experimental rearrangement of the elements of productions +or an activity just to obtain a "different" production. +One can play this little game indefinitely. Of course, what has +enabled artists to believe in rearrangement as much as they have +is that the results do have a little curiousness, surprise value. +The classic example is the projectors in \uline{Gulliver's Travels} who +were trying to develop an ointment which would remove the wool +from sheep, and to propagate the breed of naked sheep throughout +the kingdom. The music concert without performers, the audience +without a concert, painting a brush with a canvas, and so forth +to infinity. Note the similarity to the central Dadaist techniques, +which are relevant because the Dadaist technique of satire (Dada's +principal purpose) is to change a thing so it appears to have its +original purpose, but can't possibly fulfill it. Then, thinking +about "newness" without regard for other value has led by several +paths (for ex., from taking "newness" as next in a tradition to +identifying anything as such a next thing) to the conclusion that +anything is new. Attempts to do "anything" naturally tend to take +the form of doing free-floating, purposeless, trite, simple things. +An example was my own rolling a tall across the floor, supposedly +in the context of no activity or purpose. Then, they try to think +up arbitrary new purposes, new activities. An example was my +attempt, when I first concieved it, to develop a percussion-sounds +ritual which would magically make a toy car roll across a desk. +Finally, those who are a little more sophisticated theorize that +the appearance of newness has something to do with complexity and +real purposiveness, and, although still merely trying to do +something "new," try to make their productions \uline{appear} to have these characteristics.\marginpar{\textit{giving a quasi-aesthetic experience of surface newness}} + +The notions of principal interest, the most problematic +notions, the principal notions to be analyzed are the existing +vague valuational notion of "newness," and the notion of "newness" +\uline{as such} (irresoective of other characteristics). (Incidentally, + +such "newness" cannot be identified with the exciting, the shocking +as "new" sometimes seems to be used to refer to; certainly the +most exciting, shocking things are not "new" in any sense, but +are as old as humanity and well-known to it --- religion, obscenity, +violence). The key point is that valuational "newness" is, "newness' +\uline{as such} \uline{as a value} must be, valuational notions. In the +non-valuational senses, everything can be considered "new"; but +the connotation of the notions of principal interest here is that +only selected things "really" deserve to be said to be "new" --- +one speaks of "real newness." The best explication for the term +"(really) new" here is that one applies "new" approvingly to a +thing \uline{one is encountering for the first time}, which one finds +\uline{has some major value} quite irrespective of "newness," quite +irrespective of whether it is "new." The "newness" of interest here +is best explicated as not a "primary" value or characterisic of +a thing, but rather an extra, "accidental," "secondary" characteristic +a thing, which has some major value quite irrespective +of "newness," can have; the characteristic of being encountered +for the first time. My conclusion readily gives the solutions +to all the problems about "newness." The notion of a thing having +just "newness." "newness" \uline{as such} irrespective of its other +characteristics or value) as a characteristic, as its value, +is absurd, inconsistent; represents taking a "secondary" characteristic +as a "primary" value, represents a confusion of the +formal and the substantive. The case of "newness" \uline{as such} is like +the case of "ability" \uline{as such} or "freedom" \uline{as such} or competition +\uline{as such}; it represents taking a formal matter, a matter of context, +as a substantive matter. (As usual, the mere formal matter +isn't worth making an issue of, thinking about.) + +In fact, it can be concluded that it is better to omit +the issue of "newness" in determining whether a thing is valuable. +The thing is "new" only if it is independently valuable, can't +be known to be "new" before it is known to be valuable (and anyway, +even if it is valuable, its "newness" is only a matter of when +you happen to encounter it). And, thus raising the issue of +"newness" does lead to the notion of "newness" as an independent, +primary value, and to resultant confusion. Further, "new," in +the neutral uses I listed, can easily be eliminated, by replacing +it with the underlined equivalents I gave for it. Thus I see no +case where the term is uniquely useful: the notion of "newness" +is supererogatory. As the term \uline{is misleading}, I suggest that it +be consigned to oblivion, at least as a term for rigorous discourse. +\vskip 1em +\signoff{["Newness is dropped."]} + + |