this week’s “sheer gall” award

(“this week” only because I just thought of it this week)

While we’re on the subject of Metzinger… although it’s refreshing and unexpected to have him cite both Samkara and Goethe, it also takes a lot of nerve on his part.

*He quotes Samkara as saying that we should not identify with our visible selves, failing to note that Samkara’s point in doing so was to defend the primacy of the soul, not a typical Metzingerian move to say the least.

*He quotes Goethe as saying that “all theory is grey,” and has the nerve to use that phrase in defense of his program to replace a priori theory with empirical brain research. But can anyone really imagine Goethe as a supporter of Metzinger? Goethe hasn’t exactly been one of the favorite authorities of reductionist or eliminativist programs, and there’s a reason for that. Indeed, sometimes I still see his theory of colors ridiculed in those circles.