In a message dated 8/12/01 7:35:37 PM EST, [log in to unmask] writes:
> > [Perl]:
> >
> > Now the philosopher's childlike innocence is maintained
>
> Just a quick comment to note that "childlike innocence" and being
> "infantile" are not synonymous. It's odd that Perl appears to use them so.
>
> Ken Armstrong
Ken: If you go to my previous post, you'll see the immediately preceeding
lines are:
======================
[Perl]:
The word he used to describe the philosophers' corresponding belief in
reality is 'infantile'. The philosopher, he said, believes in a reality so
stable and so objective that asking questions about it would cause no
alterations in it. And Eliot thinks
that that is infantile.
Now the philosopher's childlike innocence is maintained . . . etc.
==========================
So I'm assuming the word 'infantile' comes from a direct quite from Eliot.
The problem for us is that Perl has had access to unpublished TSE material at
Harvard and Kings College Cambridge England by permission from Mrs. Eliot. We
can't verify what Perl is saying or make sure that the context is being used
correctly, which is too bad. I did a quick (manual) scan through Eliot's
thesis, which is published, and I can find no 'inflammatory' words like
'infantile'. They must be in Eliot's private notebooks or other unpublished
papers (unless someone else can cite them as being used in the thesis).
-- Steve --
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