I don't really understand why anyone who writes a book can't be called an author when all along the same vein anyone who designs blueprints can easily be called an author. It is a very pretentious notion that a writer has to reach a certain pinnacle or a group of people have to just happen upon the work and become really intrigued by it and give it gravity in order for this person to achieve an "authority stance". But I guess that is what gives discourse any power that it does possess.
Someone writes an excruciatingly intelligent book that is whole and well-written and as it gets passed along everyone agrees on it and its merit continues along with it. Now the person who wrote it, the author, is able to come into himself and really feel completed and taken seriously. Whatever it does (the book), it might make a person feel something, it could blow someone's mind, or link somebody's unfinished puzzle. Discourse could be relative and that is a way that it loses its power and force. Mein Kampf surely was admired by some but naturally lost its discourse by others. I think that the motive behind the book is pretty terrible and I am against it and regardless of how intelligent it sounds, how well-written, or whatever I know that it has a pretty bad motive and served as a catalyst for some of the worst parts of history.
Expertise governs who can be an "authority" on any information at hand. If someone is able to articulate and express this information in a confident, professional, and convincing manner than I would have to decide who I would listen to based on the context of my situation. If another person is trying to tell me something in any less of a manner then I would be more hard-pressed to believe him or her. The only room a person lacking expertise would have is to make an intelligent comment or put forth a well-thought out question. I think it is very important that we make sure that we're getting reliable information and regardless of how good someone sounds we should always double-check and find other sources. I probably wouldn't want to go to a doctor that wasn't an expert. I would not want to obtain even petty information that is incorrect or half-correct. I have a tendency to pass on anything I learn and I would really hate to have to be embarrassed on account of not being vigilant with what I put into my head.
1 comment:
HH: But this is Foucault's point- when someone does write a great work and it's beloved by all, what does that do the author? (beyond make them rich of course) How do we further perceive their work?
Additionally, how does this further seek to limit the discourse around their field of study? How does Hitler's name begin to color our views of what is appropriate and what is not?
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