"To Generalize is to be an Idiot; To Particularize is the Alone Distinction of Merit"
- William Blake
(in antipathy to Joshua Reynolds belief that "disposition to abstractions, to generalising and classification, is the great glory of the human mind" and his pursuit of "general truth" and "general beauty")
I can't find it now, but I read a great passage recently on why generalisation, simplification and abstraction are essential for understanding the world. If we saw everything in its unique, precious individuality, the way Blake wants us to, we couldn't make sense of any of it. The world would just be an overwhelming chaotic blur.
ReplyDeleteIn a political sense, it's why a theoretical framework - eg Marxism - is necessary. Without it, history is just one damn thing after another.
I think it's a compelling insight, but I can't remember where I saw it.
The closest thing I could find is the argument Gang of Four are making (or maybe mocking?) in 'Why Theory'.
Borges' Funes the Memorious. One conclusion he reaches is that Funes is bad at thinking, because he cannot generalise. Why count, when you can remember each star exactly, or every hair of a thunderstruck colt's tail?
ReplyDeleteThat is a great parallel. I think I have read it , but unlike Funes I have no memory at all, so I am not sure. I will check it out.
DeleteWasn't Blake's beef with Newton to do with Newton being a particularist?
ReplyDeleteYes I agree with my namesake Sir Joshua.
ReplyDeleteWasn’t Nietzsche a particularist? Or at least I remember an aphorism along the lines of “it is only the coarseness of our sense organs that makes us see a tree as a type of entity rather its own unique thing”
In Blake’s defence, was he reacting specifically to Reynolds’s advice to young artists as head of the Royal Academy? Is that where those Reynolds quotes come from?
ReplyDeleteThere are some of his writings where he seems to be advising artists that, if they want to be esteemed by posterity, they should paint representations of abstract ideas rather than real people.
If that is what the argument is about, then I am 100% on Blake’s side. I would always prefer to see likenesses of real people, even the most pointless minor aristocrats, rather than idealized figures of Wisdom and Virtue. The same way I would always prefer to read a book or watch a film about plausibly real characters, instead of manifestations of ideas.