Stories LO844
jack@his.com
Wed, 19 Apr 95 22:55:02
Sam and Jim have tickled my fancy. In the analytical bias that has
possessed Western thought since the "scientific revolution", the knowledge
in stories has been relegated to "anecdotal evidence" which is often
contrasted with "hard data" and enumerated facts. C. P. Snow - both a
crystallographer and master storyteller - characterized this as "Two
Cultures" (remembering this particular buzzword pretty much dates me), and
viewed the split as the source of civilization's potential decay.
(Whether this potential has been realized I leave to you, dear reader.)
The split (and the superior position of scientific ideology in the
dominant culture) has led to a kind of snobbish anti-intellectualism among
many of the partisans of the story, and its utility as a repository of
both knowledge and wisdom is, in my opinion, consequently waning.
Personally, I also blame TV, but that's another story... ;-)
Luckily, storytelling is enjoying something of a revival, and in the hands
(or should I say mouths) of people like Clarissa Pinkola Estes, may yet
regain for stories in general and oral tradition in particular some of its
former cachet...
--
Jack Hirschfeld A kiddly divey too, wouldn't you?
jack@his.com