B E B E R E

Blogs are like those Russian nesting dolls - open one up, and you find another gem within. Steven den Beste, my favorite neglected blogger (gosh darnit, I need to read him more regularly), has a great article called "Teleology and Solipsism." It's about the schism between disciplines requiring rigor and empricism and the others that do not - and on the resentment felt by academes in the latter area (who den Beste refers to as philosophical or 'P-Idealists.')

Granted, I'd not been in academia long enough (by Boston standards, anyway) to have had my brain sullied by postmodern literary theory, so I do have a hard time grasping it. My interests prettymuch end at about WWII, anyway. I guess what has been disturbing to me and what also has given me a great distaste for continuing literature studies the now mainstream appeal this form of criticism has in humanities departments and beyond. I can't function in this lack of reason. Therefore, my brain has been seeking alternative food for thought. Hence the interest and pursuit of a greater depth of knowledge statistics - something still pretty creative, but with more of a solid footing.

Heck, another factor might the deeply ingrained pragmatism of the lower classes. You know, the same thing that keeps making me think that the only people who are fervent believers in things like Socialism are the upper classes who can afford it.