Re: Judging
- To: Multiple recipients of list <i*@rt66.com>
- Subject: Re: Judging
- From: H*@aol.com
- Date: Sat, 18 Oct 1997 12:15:18 -0600 (MDT)
In a message dated 97-10-18 12:13:22 EDT, you write:
<< An effort should be made to improve the process in order to reduce the
level of "opinion" and thereby increase the predictability of the results.
>>
I cannot see that it is possible to quantify this sort of thing without
introducing the same level of human variation and error that concerns you.
Someone would still have to assign empirical values to vegetable phenomena.
The idea that the opinions of the uninitiated have some special authority
over those of the sophisticated and discriminating is not credible. This is
romanitic primitivism. My observation earlier that the unsophisticated were
often able to enjoy more things because they have fewer preconceptions was
not an endorsement of a naive approach to the subject over that of a learned
one, but a suggestion that in the process of refining our personal taste we
risk closing ourselves off to experience. The appreciation of the naive may
be broad, and that is good, but the appreciation of the connoisseur is deep,
and that is also good. I seek to balance these.
Anner Whitehead, Richmond, Va
Henry Hall henryanner@aol.com
