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Tom
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 10353

Posted Today 8:03 AM (GMT -6)

Among the bloggers I try to keep up with there are a few (huge Barth fans) who really dislike ‘essentialism’. Their dislike of essentialism puzzles me, and I don’t find any of their objections in the least convincing.

Here’s an example:

www.inhabitatiodei.com/2007/04/02/ontology-difference-and-narrative/

But the essentialism that Halden criticizes isn’t the essentialism I believe in or that believed in by essentialists that I know (like Alan and Greg). I’m not quite sure what to say to Halden except, “I agree that the version of essentialism you’re describing is false.” But at the same time, I don’t agree to his (and Barth’s) historical actualism.

Tom

"Man is a person not by nature but by spirit. By nature he is only an individual." Nicolas Berdyaev

Sahid
Megistered Rember

Date Joined Jun 2004
Total Posts : 2013

Posted 11/10/2009 1:15 AM (GMT -6)

He begins defining essentialism very broadly (basically the claim that words have specific meaning), and then he points out the errors of a much more specific essentialism. Sloppy.

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