Klarinet Archive - Posting 000385.txt from 2001/11

From: Daniel Leeson <leeson0@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] The worth of things
Date: Fri, 9 Nov 2001 14:31:19 -0500

Tony, your note said the following:

"I don't really understand why you want to dispute this. If someone
makes an assertion about the worth of something, and their arguments for
that assertion are inadequate, then you dismiss their arguments. You
don't want to say that the idea of 'worth' is undermined."

I don't think you meant to say what you said in the second sentence.
"If someone makes an assertion about the worth of something, and their
arguments for that assertion are inadequate, then you dismiss their
arguments."

Did you not mean to end that sentence with "... then you dismiss their
assertion"?

And assuming that you meant that, of course I dismiss any assertion that
has inadequate or flawed arguments. Both you and I were trained to do
that in the many class of mathematics we took, since I know that your
undergraduate degree is in that subject. We are trained to examine
arguments and to dismiss all assertions that derive from those arguments
should those arguments be defective in some objective way.

Do you remember the discussion we had in San Diego about the infamous
missing measure in K. 361's fifth movement? Your arguments were that in
playing the work with some terrific performers, you came to the majority
conclusion that the removal of that measure was wrong based on the fact
that you didn't like it that way. That's not surprising. You had
played it the other way for 30 years so any change without explanation
would have produced that result.

I then replied with several quite objective arguments based on what the
manuscript said, and which eliminated personal taste from the dialogue
at once. I hoped then and I hope today that I convinced you about that
measure based on hard evidence. That is the way I think people should
argue complicated issues; i.e., on the facts and not on the basis of
taste. I would be defenseless if I were to say, "But no, it sound
'better' my way." That is because it is a given that your taste, in
fact almost anyone's taste is probably better than mine.

Dan

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** Dan Leeson **
** leeson0@-----.net **
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