Michael Root summarizes the notion of “configurational” understanding, as opposed to a “theoretical” understanding of things, that has been developed by Louis O. Mink: In narratives, events are “elements in a single and concrete complex of relationships. Thus a letter which I burn may be understood not only as an oxidizable substance but as a link with an old friend. It may have relieved a misunderstanding, raised a question, or changed my plans at a crucial moment. As a letter, it belongs to a kind of story, a narrative of events which would be unintelligible without reference to it. But to explain this I would not construct a theory of letters or of friendships but would, rather, show how it belongs to a particular configuration of events like a part in a jigsaw puzzle.”
What a thing is cannot be reduced to either material features or metaphysical essence. It is what it is by its place in a narrative.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
Ethics of Rhetoric in Times of War
What we say matters. And the way we say it matters. This is especially true in times…
How the State Failed Noelia Castillo
On March 26, Noelia Castillo, a twenty-five-year-old Spanish woman, was killed by her doctors at her own…
The Mind’s Profane and Sacred Loves
The teachers you have make all the difference in your life. That they happened to come into…
