The 3 Steps to Refuting Any Argument, from the newly released As Consciousness Is Harnessed to Flesh: Journals and Notebooks, 1964-1980.
According to the awesome blog brainpickings, this book is “an extraordinary look at the inner world of a genius, oscillating between conviction and insecurity in the most beautifully imperfect and human way possible. From detailed notes on her formidable media diet of literature and film to her intense love affairs and infatuations to her meditations on society’s values and vices, the hefty volume is a true cultural treasure.”
From September 16, 1965, written during a trip to Paris:
The main techniques for refuting an argument:
Find the inconsistency
Find the counter-example
Find a wider contextInstance of (3):
I am against censorship. In all forms. Not just for the right of masterpieces— high art— to be scandalous.
But what about pornography (commercial)?
Find the wider context: notion of voluptuousness à la Bataille?But what about children? Not even for them? Horror comics, etc.
Why forbid them comics when they can read worse things in the newspapers any day. Napalm bombing in Vietnam, etc.
A just/ discriminating censorship is impossible.
| Still curious? Check out Reborn: Journals and Notebooks, 1947-1963. |
