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SCRAPING_DIALECTIC

                                             September 27, 2020


   Pouring over a Sartre quotation
   about "the dialectical"...              CONTRADICTORY_DIALECT

                                                         METHODS_FOR_A_SEARCH
      It occurs to me I'm trying to find meaning
      in the gobblydygook by projecting an
      understanding on to it.

      So what is it that I want
      "the dialectical method" to be?

          If you begin with an understanding,
          a theory of the world--

          And then discover evidence that it's
          wrong or incomplete...

          You can end up feeling the theory needs
          to be abandoned-- you may feel guilty
          for having been suckered into it.
          You might be left with a lingering sense
          of being unable to get anything right,
          a fear that you're too stupid to
          find or invent a good understanding.


              What I *want* from "dialectical reasoning"
              is some variation of The Scientific (kinda-sorta) Method:

              Theories often aren't perfect, but
              even a flawed theory can be of use--       SCIENTIFIC_METHODS
              it gives you something to try out,
              it can be used as a "model" to be
              investigated even if you have no
              personal committment to it being
              The Truth.

                  The idea that you need to know
                  The Truth before you can make
                  a move is obviously ridiculous
                  once stated, but even so I think
                  there've been times when I was
                  haunted by that sort of attitude.


                    If you go into the game with an understanding
                    that there's going to be something like a
                    "dialectic process", maybe you can dodge some
                    of that paralysis of truth.   You've got an
                    idea, a best guess, you work with it while you
                    can, and try to incorporate criticisms as they
                    arise to refine the idea-- or to create a new one.


                             That all sounds great to me,
                             but it's sounded great to me
                             for several decades now...

                                   METHOD

                             And so, one might conclude that I'm
                             stuck on a particular idea about
                             methods, and I need to refine them.

                             Still collecting antitheses after
                             all these years.


                    And now that I've hit the meta point,
                    I can close this one off, and rest on
                    my display of clever self-reflection.

                       Though that's not *supposed*
                       to be the point.



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