Re: [Pen-l] Literary criticism and economics [was: It's the metonymy, stupid!]

[Sandwichman <lumpoflabor@xxxxxxxxx>]

By the same token (and I use the word 'token' advisedly), you should discount exchanges other than barter because money is a _symbol_ of value and thus a kind of quantitative 'mere' talk. If you say "the check is in the mail" when it isn't, that's fraud, which is an action.

Anyway, my point was that Kenneth Burke -- who some might want to call a literary critic because he discusses literature -- could better be thought of as a social philosopher, more akin to Adam Smith, Thorstein Veblen or Karl Marx. Attitudes towards History situates "naive capitalism" within a progression of "frames" for motivating collective behavior.

On Sat, Jun 6, 2009 at 11:46 AM, Jim Devine <jdevine03@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

there's a difference between pure talk and talk mixed with action. If
I say "the check is in the mail," that's just talk. If I actually send
you a check (and it actually has a bank account to back it up), that's
not just talk, it also involves action.

-- 
Sandwichman
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