Word: answerable
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1950-1959
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Sometimes the reaction against boredom erupts against the University, and then the answer to the perennial question "What'll we do tonight?" becomes "Let's go up to the Square and jump a few students." Other times the University just happens to be conveniently nearby when a g takes it into its head to do something Still other times, maliciousness ters then a brutal mugging curs or someone's tires are slash...
...July and September of 1955 the Internal Security subcommittee called her in for more questioning. With advice of counsel, Mary Knowles invoked the First Amendment, refused to answer such questions as: "Did you, or do you, know Herbert Philbrick?" on the further grounds that they pried into her private thoughts and were meant, not to elicit pertinent information, but only to humiliate her. Last fall Mary Knowles was indicted for contempt of Congress...
This article is designed to explain, how to achieve the third answer to this perplexing problem by the use of the vague generality, the artful equivocation, and the overpowering assumption...
...artful equivocation is an almost impossible concept to explain, but it is easy to demonstrate. Let us take our earlier typical examination question, "Did the philosophical beliefs of Hume represent the spirit of the age in which he lived?" The equivocator would answer it this way: "Some people believe that David Hume was not necessarily a great philosopher because his thought was merely a reflection of conditions around him, colored by his own personality. Others, however, strongly support Hume's greatness on the ground that the force of his personality definitely affected the age in which he lived...
Just exactly what our equivocator's answer has to do with the original question is hard to say. The equivocator writes an essay about the point, but never on it. Consequently the grader often mentally assumes the right answer is known by the equivocator and marks the essay as an extension of the point rather than a complete irrelevance. The artful equivocation must imply the writer knows the right answer, but it must never get definite enough to eliminate any possibilities...