[OPE-L:1018] Re: Examples and texts

akliman@acl.nyit.edu (akliman@acl.nyit.edu)
Fri, 9 Feb 1996 07:29:09 -0800

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Only two brief comments on Gil's response to my jigsaw puzzle parable, etc.,
because basically I have little new to add.

(1) Gil provides a couple of quotes from Marx that Gil says are the kind of
falsification of my interpretation that I require. The problem is that
the terms of the quotes differ from those that I require. This was my
whole point--I don't think this kind of procedure will resolve much.

(2) Sure, theory differs from empirical evidence. My point was that the
theoretical conclusions that a text arrives at are themselves empirical
evidence. In other words, when you're assesting the merits of different
interpretations, you need to look not only at the *concepts* developed
in the text, but also the text's theoretical conclusions, as part of the
empirical material you examine to see whether interpretations correspond.

Andrew Kliman