Word: idea
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...sense of reality, a widening of the imagination. I, for one, do not doubt that the sane view of the world is the true one. But is that what is always wanted, truth? The need for truth is not constant; no more than is the need for repose. An idea which is a distortion may have a greater intellectual thrust than the truth; it may better serve the needs of the spirit, which vary. The truth is balance, but the opposite of truth, which is unbalance...
Abraham Moles's newly translated Information Theory and Esthetic Perception is a book with one interesting idea, which emerges, crablike, from the murky burrow of Chapter Five. The idea is that realizations of a work of art--the performances of a symphony or play--are not uniquely determined by the output of the composer or author, but vary from one occasion to another, so that people like to hear Beethoven's Fifth Symphony or see Hamlet even when they know the notes or lines by heart...
...Information Theory and Esthetic Perception, the exposition of this idea requires 45 pages. The ratio of verbiage to original thought in the rest of the book is vastly higher. Moles, like many before him, has failed to see that a relabelling of old problems does not necessarily increase our knowledge or understanding of them...
...practicable, the Romney-Laird idea needs the advance blessing of all major candidates for the presidential nomination. They would consequently be committed to the useful notion that the party is bigger than the man, which in itself could help damp down some of the G.O.P.'s intraparty differences. More important for the party's immediate prospects, Romney has already told Laird he would make that commitment. Though condemned by many party regulars as a loner and an opportunist who has used the G.O.P. but has no true allegiance to it, Romney has thus indicated his willingness to contend...
...bracing 59° F. and the shore was littered with bomb-hunting equipment, but U.S. Ambassador Angier Biddle Duke, 50, diplomatically endorsed the Spanish swimming. "Exhilarating! Sensational! Magnificent! Superb!" raved Duke. Well now, it couldn't have been all that good, but it did help put the idea across that the U.S. H-bomb lost when an Air Force B-52 collided with its refueling tanker had not contaminated the sea. Why, while the ambassador splashed around with two of his children and some chilled conscripts from the embassy staff, local Andalusians even strung out a banner: WE HAVE...