Pass the lvalue on the left-hand side

M. Thompson:

This suggests, though, that we know what practices and species are before we come to advance such claims. Do we take the concepts over, maybe, from sociology in the one case, and biology in the other? But we are practicing philosophy, or mean to be, and so if we accept the equation, the 'wider context' of vital description is the species, then we must, in Professor McDowell's phrase, 'enter it on the left side'. Vital description of individual organisms is itself the primitive expression of a conception of things in terms of 'life-form' or 'species', and if we want to understand these categories in philosophy we must bring them back to that form of description.

I find Dr. Prof. McDowell's phrase, or its application here anyway, confusing. Clearly what Thompson means is: "the species is the 'wider context' of vital description" (or perhaps more explicitly: "the species just is &c"), and what makes it clear that that's what he means is precisely the fact that he thinks that, in the equation as he has it written, the left-hand term should interpreted and the results assigned to the right-hand term. Conventionally, the term getting assigned to is put on the left.  One could write something like "x + 2 = f(x)" and be understood, and indeed to understand what's going on one's reader would have to enter the equation on the left side.  But that would not be because he was doing philosophy; it would be because one had expressed oneself confusingly.

And indeed: I was confused.

Comments

[Lucy]

Dear Mr. Ben Wolfson,

Are you here? I'm sorry to trouble you with ancient history in your Comments section, but I was trying to read your post about "Essays in Idleness," as cited in Language Hat:

http://www.languagehat.com/archives/000846.php

... but the links don't lead anywhere useful. Also, I can't find an e-mail address for you on here to e-mail you directly. If you would be so kind, would you please e-mail me a usable link to your blog posting on Kenko? Again, I'm sorry if I'm inconveniencing anyone by posting this request here. I can't immediately make sense of what "Waste" is about or who runs it. Thank you! Lucy in Malaysia

[Schmidt]

McDowell is not terribly mathy; I suspect the point of reference may be Davidsonian T-biconditionals ("entering on the left side" meaning working within the object language). You might, however, get more mileage out of charitably interpreting Brandom's creepy and narcissistic Sonnet quotation in Making it Explicit ("let those whom nature hath not made for store...") as an observation about the cultural politics of the heap.

[ben wolfson]

I can't immediately make sense of what "Waste" is about or who runs it.

A common problem, Lord knows.

The wayback machine has the link. God, how ugly things were back then!