[analphilosopher] Keith Burgess-Jackson: Brand Blanshard (1892-1987) on Perspicuity

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Posted by Keith Burgess-Jackson:
Brand Blanshard (1892-1987) on Perspicuity
http://www.analphilosopher.com/posts/1154476911.shtml


   Barrett Wendell, in his admirable book on writing, points out that
   clearness and vividness often turn on mere specificity. To say that
   Major André was hanged is clear and definite; to say that he was
   killed is less definite, because you do not know in what way he was
   killed; to say that he died is still more indefinite because you do
   not even know whether his death was due to violence or to natural
   causes. If we were to use this statement as a varying symbol by which
   to rank writers for clearness, we might, I think, get something like
   the following: Swift, Macauley, and Shaw would say that André was
   hanged. Bradley would say that he was killed. Bosanquet would say that
   he died. Kant would say that his mortal existence achieved its
   termination. Hegel would say that a finite determination of infinity
   had been further determined by its own negation.