The Lakoff "framing" line is either trivial (don't let your opponents straw man you!) or self-undermining (it's all just a competition among frames-- a classic case of a thesis denying the conditions for its own truth). Either way, that anyone takes this guy seriously is amazing to me. And that some progressive circles see him as some kind of guru is enough to make me puke.
What could be more destructive than the views that no one really has any reason to defend progressive causes, and that the explanation of why people hold progressive views is simply that they find certain concepts attractive? In fact, its hard to imagine anything worse for progressive causes than the view that progressivism (like conservatism) is simply an affliction.
Anyway, the Lakoff view was discredited decades ago. But that doesn't stop him from simply repeating himself whenever anyone asks (or pays). In case you need to remind yourself of what a dope he is, check here.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
I forget who it was, but someone once pointed out that when Lakoff writes "cognitive science has shown that p" he means "I once asserted that p".
Way down deep, it's really very shallow.
On the plus side, I've now got Bowie's "F[r]ame" playing on the psychic jukebox.
Lakoff does not think "it's all just a competition between frames."
The top link at the google search given below is one document in which Lakoff addresses that charge.
Lakoff believes that facts are understood through frames, that some people use frames dishonestly, and that others use them honestly--and he advocates for the latter, not the former.
http://www.google.com/search?q=when+cognitive+science+enters+politics&sourceid=ie7&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&ie=&oe=&rlz=1I7ADFA_en
@1:02 - So then the view is trivial.
It would be trivial, if it weren't for the simple fact that everyone seems to ignore it.
What you've done is about like this:
Greg: Rose, you think dogs are reptiles.
Rose: No, I believe dogs are mammals.
Greg: So your view is trivial!
Post a Comment