[FOM] Corfield's book

[Martin Krieger]

    I have read parts of Corfield's book and many of his articles over the
years. I must say that the discussion on the list bears little resemblance
to the book. It may well resemble what John Baez said, or what Corfield says
here. But, as a whole, the book is rather more measured and subtle, and the
cases somewhat more interesting, than is suggested by the exchanges here on
the list.
    (None of this takes away from those exchanges. My point here is that
they strike me as being quite distant from the book--although I am sure one
can find passages that would support any position, by Corfield, by Simpson,
by others, taken in this list. I feel no brief to defend or attack the
various positions taken here, merely to say something about the book
itself.)
    For myself, I always find it useful to look at a book as a whole, being
sure that quoted passages in reviews and arguments are seen in the context
of the book. None of this makes a book good or right, or whatever. But it
helps one to understand what is going on in a complex argument. Living in
the world of the stretched quote--Los Angeles--I am somewhat more suspicious
than those who live in more refined atmospheres.
Martin Krieger