Monday, December 11, 2006
(3:20 PM) | Adam Kotsko:
Begging the Question
Have we just reached the point where "to beg the question" means "to immediately prompt one to ask the question" rather than "to attempt to get one's opponent to accept as a shared assumption what is actually precisely the question at issue"?If we have, that's okay -- no need to be a prescriptivist bastard. But if the battle is still going on, I'm going to throw my vast influence behind the traditional meaning.
TWO UNRELATED REMARKS:
- Obviously playing Windows Hearts at this late date is intrinsically depressing; what's even more depressing is sucking at it -- specifically, coming to understand that one's ability to keep track of which cards have been played is only kicking in when it's a matter of knowing for sure that one is inevitably going to lose.
- Does it seem safe to say that no one on earth has listened to Thom Yorke's solo album more than three times through?
FOR FUTURE GAMES OF "SIX DEGREES OF KEVIN BACON":
In the Prison Notebooks, Gramsci makes a passing reference to Paul de Man's uncle, Henri de Man.
