Tom Matrullo on whether there’s a big deal here
May 9th, 2007 by David Weinberger
Tom writes beautifully about whether the change my book points to is significant or just re-tagging the deck chairs on the Titanic, so to speak. He uses this to try to understand Shelley‘s negative reaction to the book.
I of course do think things have changed significantly. To put it in its least popular way, I think we’re seeing the final nail in the Aristotelian view that there is a way the universe is ordered, that there is a best way to order, and that that order divides the world neatly through perfect definitions. Order is guided by interests, and we’re seeing a remarkable change in the who, how and what of order. Since knowledge has traditionally been about discerning that order, the same sort of changes are happening with knowledge. And likewise with authority.
IMO. [Tags: tom_matrullo shelley_powers everything_is_miscellaneous aristotle ]
