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Re: Intellectual Fraud (fwd)
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From: Juan M Martinez <jmm80625@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu>
VN's definition of an intellectual fraud can be found in several places in
_Strong Opinions_, and is paraphrased quite nicely in John Updike's
introduction to _Lectures on Literature_. An intellectual fraud, by VN's
standards, is a person producing hacky, cheap, and trite stuff
masquerading as high art or high science---low posing as high.
Speaking of which, the recent Freudian arguments (pro and con) are both
completely irrelevant and just this side of useless: psychology, like
religion or politics, is the sort of thing you can't reason out---there
are no rational arguments to prove or disprove Freud. Shoving Freud down
a nonbeliever's throat can lead to the sort of allegorical nonsense
psychology has been criticized for in the first place. No one is denying
Freud's impact and relevance to this century---some of us, however, are
quite happy without him.
Cheers,
Juan
VN's definition of an intellectual fraud can be found in several places in
_Strong Opinions_, and is paraphrased quite nicely in John Updike's
introduction to _Lectures on Literature_. An intellectual fraud, by VN's
standards, is a person producing hacky, cheap, and trite stuff
masquerading as high art or high science---low posing as high.
Speaking of which, the recent Freudian arguments (pro and con) are both
completely irrelevant and just this side of useless: psychology, like
religion or politics, is the sort of thing you can't reason out---there
are no rational arguments to prove or disprove Freud. Shoving Freud down
a nonbeliever's throat can lead to the sort of allegorical nonsense
psychology has been criticized for in the first place. No one is denying
Freud's impact and relevance to this century---some of us, however, are
quite happy without him.
Cheers,
Juan