(Sorry, the sound is a bit off from the video in the clip.)
http://youtu.be/apvf4UihPd8
In this clip, the closet is Monica's space for everything that can't be organized into her declared system. Weinberger talks about how physical things must be classified by their similarities, and the advantage of the internet is that it provides an infinite number of possible classifications.
Weinberger disagrees with Aristotle's notion that everything must be classified into definite categories. To put it in Bacon's terms, Aristotle embodies the "Idol of the Marketplace" by limiting truth with words. Definitions are concrete and static categories that have no room for miscellaneous objects like those in Monica's closet.
Very good similarity to the misc box that Weinberger mentioned in his talk. In general I agree with your statements, but I have one clarification that I would make.
ReplyDeleteI'd say that Aristotle's idea of specific classification embodies the Idol of the Marketplace. As it attempts to apply words that are not always appropriately descriptive to objects or other words, which results in a loss of understanding as per the Idol of the Marketplace.
Aristotle himself (and his ideals as a whole, rather than just a specific idea) I feel are more appropriately categorized by the Idol of the Theater. The reason for this is that his ideals and his name ultimately defined the hierarchy of thought for hundreds of years. In fact, Aristotle's dominance over how scientific thought progressed and operated was so complete that in many ways it functioned like an institution blinding humanity to any other way of thinking. This fact in and of itself epitomizes the Idol of the Theater and how an institution or philosophy can completely control how human kind thinks.
That is a very interesting way of looking at things. Many of Bacon's Idols actually overlap in places, and it is interesting that even Aristotle's words can be interpreted in many different ways.
ReplyDeleteUpon re-reading our comments here, I thought I would add a little more, to make my video and comments count as one of the eight responses. It is interesting that Brandon and I have just tried to do what Weinberger says everyone automatically does: categorize. We both tried to place Aristotle's categorization into categories themselves, but we both fell into the same trap that Weinberger talks about. There are so many different ways to categorize. While I thought that Aristotle's notion fit into Bacon's Idol of the Marketplace, Brandon placed it into Bacon's Idol of the Theater. Depending on how one views something, paying attention to certain aspects and giving other characteristics less importance, determines how things are categorized. That is why Weinberger says that the internet is so valuable. It consists of an infinite set of categories so that all things can fit into many categories, just as Aristotle's views fit into multiple Idols.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great moment on the blog. Wonderful insight and a great clip to show our knack for liking neat categories. Kant continues this category thing as well.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite interchanges so far