Comment on Don't Get Offended

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 14:15:59 GMT

Perhaps taboo "ordinary" and "true"?

I'm inclined to argue, as some linguists would, that tabooing "ordinary" is impossible in this context, because people are intuitive essentialists, and that generic statements make reference to such postulated essences, which define what makes for an "ordinary" X. (Hence a lot of Aristotelian nonsense.)

This does, indeed, fit very well with your observation - with which I agree - that sometimes, the borderline between "ordinary" and "true/real" becomes blurred. However, I think one should still be wary of suspecting mentions of "extraordinary" of being censored no-true-Scotsman-arguments without further evidence.

Discuss