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| | | -- By GregOrr - 12 Jun 2009 | |
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< | In my first paper, I discussed content and sense in reality, communication, and making decisions. With reference to a chapter of Lawyerland called “All Great Problems Come from the Streets,” I’ll discuss the struggle over meaning within the legal profession. | >
> | In my first paper, I discussed content and sense in reality, communication, and making decisions. With reference to a chapter of Lawyerland called “All Great Problems Come from the Streets,” I’ll discuss the struggle over meaning within the legal profession. | | | Adjudicating Meaning | |
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< | “This is a business in which everyone relies on representations,” Judge Day says. “Lawyers are the ones who invented spin.” She distinguishes this form of sometimes somewhat lying truth/perception management, however, from outright misrepresentation. Of the less objectionable variety, she says, “Lawyers know too much. If you know too much, how don’t you lie?” | >
> | “This is a business in which everyone relies on representations,” Judge Day says. “Lawyers are the ones who invented spin.” She distinguishes this form of sometimes somewhat lying truth/perception skew/management, however, from outright misrepresentation. Of the less objectionable variety, she says, “Lawyers know too much. If you know too much, how don’t you lie?” I might interpret some sense of "how don't you preferably angle/manipulate?" | | | | |
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< | There’s “too much meaning”—in the context of contents, people, positions, facts, possibilities, statutes, cases, procedures, interpretations, certainties and uncertainties, “everything you say has another meaning.” Since “a real lawyer has an ethical obligation to defend his or her client,” lawyers play with meaning opportunistically. On one hand, “the posturing, the playacting, arguing over the smallest things, the narcissism, the beyond-belief egomania—it’s all part of that.” But on the other hand, “it’s inherent in the process.” | >
> | There’s “too much meaning”—in the context of contents, people, positions, facts, possibilities, interests, statutes, cases, procedures, awarenesses, interpretations, certainties and uncertainties, knowledge, sense, “everything you say has another meaning.” Since “a real lawyer has an ethical obligation to defend his or her client,” lawyers approach meaning opportunistically. On one hand, “the posturing, the playacting, arguing over the smallest things, the narcissism, the beyond-belief egomania—it’s all part of that.” But on the other hand, “it’s inherent in the process.” | | | | |
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< | In the end a judge or jury adjudicates meaning by “discerning,” which is possible with reasonable effectiveness, but even this can be fallible or flawed resonance in subjective interpretation or otherwise sort of untrue or difficult for the judged. | >
> | There are intentions/facilities/procedures to get at good/right/true, and in the end a judge or jury adjudicates meaning by “discerning,” which is possible with reasonable effectiveness, but can still be fallible or flawed in objective/subjective reality/awareness/interpretation/preference or otherwise sort of untrue or difficult for the judged. And there are kind/degree analogies in life outside of lawyering and the courtroom. | | | The Winkers | | | The Insolent and Scared | |
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< | In contrast, Judge Day presents the “insolent and scared,” people who may have difficulty in content situations and possibly resent the systemic and interpersonal imposition of meaning. Under this heading, she includes a young counterfeiter: “You know you’re going to put them in prison, and they know you know it, and they try to look right through you … Insolent. Toward you, toward themselves, toward life itself.” And she includes a former clerk: “He says—he’s quite agitated about it—that there no longer is a nation. What is really going on is that we’re in a state of civil wars … A Generation X lawyer has thoughts like this? Well, I can tell you, just because they may be insolent, and they are scared, doesn’t mean there aren’t some very serious sorts in their twenties roaming around out there.” It might be possible that lawyers and judges, or at least some, may be addled a bit by dealing with problem cases as much as they do, like more element/proportion focused in that way than your average bear, while other less problematic content/life is more common, and even this essay of mine has a kind of prompted angle by some of the Lawyerland source and class, and in naive wonder topic without wanting or expecting problem too much, perhaps a naive mark at the table, though not to be cynical about others, and I might have to confer with my lawyers before noting that perhaps some details of this essay were not the best content/tone and insofar as problematically effectual I would want to withdraw/fix/improve some such details. I do not think it's or want civil wars and whatnot. I prefer/like benign content/stakes, earnestness/facility to good/right/reasonable/decent/comfortable/fine. | >
> | In contrast, Judge Day presents the “insolent and scared,” people who may have difficulty in content situations and possibly resent the systemic and interpersonal imposition of meaning. Under this heading, she includes a young counterfeiter: “You know you’re going to put them in prison, and they know you know it, and they try to look right through you … Insolent. Toward you, toward themselves, toward life itself.” And she includes a former clerk: “He says—he’s quite agitated about it—that there no longer is a nation. What is really going on is that we’re in a state of civil wars … A Generation X lawyer has thoughts like this? Well, I can tell you, just because they may be insolent, and they are scared, doesn’t mean there aren’t some very serious sorts in their twenties roaming around out there.” (It might be possible that lawyers and judges, or at least some, may be addled a bit by dealing with problem cases as much as they do, like more element/proportion focused in that way than your average bear, while other less problematic content/life is more common, and even this essay of mine has a kind of prompted angle by some of the Lawyerland source and class, and in naive wonder topic without wanting or expecting problem too much, perhaps a naive mark at the table, though not to be cynical about others, and I might have to confer with my lawyers before noting that perhaps some details of this essay were not the best content/tone and insofar as problematically effectual I would want to withdraw/fix/improve some such details. I do not think it's or want civil wars and whatnot. I prefer/like benign content/stakes, earnestness/facility to good/right/reasonable/decent/comfortable/fine.) | | | They may have problems, may not believe in the system's assignment of meaning, may be difficultly subject, may be expressive or active or resigned with respect to that, and this may be observed or otherwise advocated in some extent. But they have doubts and fear for themselves— Kafka said, “In the struggle between you and the world, back the world.” Aside from more troubling contents/circumstances, some contents/dynamics in life can be observed or have characteristics in similar ways some, more or less good/right/true/understandable/coherent/graceful or this or that, often with humanism/perspective/facility/humor.
Deep Answers? | |
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< | Joseph’s inscription for Lawyerland is a quote from Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet: “Don’t be confused by surfaces; in the depths, everything becomes law.” Is he telling us that uncertainty or various perspective or contradiction are illusions and that there is law-like meaning in all cases? Accessible? Are the insolent and scared mired in an immature perception/reaction? (Mom's leg is a pretty safe base when you're a child. She wouldn't play a badly intended trick on you.) We commonly know/observe/assume specific nature of some things/causations, like leaves/flowers/etc, however much one perceives or knows about this, while some other things/perspectives may be less definedly natured or more variable or dynamically uncertain or more obscure/inaccessible, though there may be actual/real case of that. Speculating as to natural... I'm not a scientist as to all these things, aside from educated amateur/observer, and it's many-detailed, and not to get into wondering about quantum physics here... as well as conceivably the supernatural/unseen. One wonder example is that the content/reason of eyebrows or other features is apparently approximately the same whether as result of intelligent design or evolution. Which seems more likely/perceivable to you? But if it's in God's image, where did the chicken or egg of His case come from? Etc details. Natural and by conscious awareness/motive/effort. Correct me if I'm wrong. | >
> | Joseph’s inscription for Lawyerland is a quote from Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet: “Don’t be confused by surfaces; in the depths, everything becomes law.” Is he telling us that indefiniteness/uncertainty or various perspective or contradiction are illusions and that there is law-like meaning in all cases? Accessible? Are the insolent and scared mired in an immature perception/reaction? (Mom's leg is a pretty safe base when you're a child. She wouldn't play a badly intended trick on you.) We commonly know/observe/assume specific nature of some things/causations, like leaves/flowers/etc, however much one perceives or knows about this, while some other things/perspectives may be less definedly/fixedly natured (Flick's tongue was not stuck to a pole and then it was stuck to a pole, which is not a case that ought to be fixedly stuck that way, and then it wasn't stuck to a pole again, and he probably knows now not to do that, you can see what happened there at the ostensible natural understanding level), more variable or dynamically uncertain, or more obscure/inaccessible, though there may be actual/real case of that. Speculating as to natural... I'm not a scientist as to all these things, aside from educated amateur/observer, and it's many-detailed, and not to get into wondering about quantum physics here... as well as conceivably the supernatural/unseen. One wonder example is that the content/reason of eyebrows or other features is apparently approximately the same whether as result of intelligent design or evolution. Which seems more likely/perceivable to you? But if it's in God's image, where did the chicken or egg of His case come from? Etc details. Natural and by conscious awareness/motive/effort. Correct me if I'm wrong. | | | Judge Day offers a related view to Rilke's quote: “Perhaps the finest lawyer I’ve ever known used to say—it was one of his cardinal rules—if you look hard enough for an answer, you’ll find it. Everything’s there, you just have to look for it.” But the lawyer later reappears to urge, “Do whatever you can to achieve your objective.” That statement or approach might sometimes recast the first to mean that there will always be an argument to make for your objective, whether that is otherwise true or not, and some lawyerly phenomena, real or just cliche, can be like that. Willfulness may determine reason/meaning from one point of view while perhaps another exists with difference and substance/reason/meaning, with some objective/intersubjective understanding/rapprochement. If one's objective is true/good/right/fair generally, then everything is actually there in the way that it is, possibly aside from how well you grasp it, how palatable/preferable it is, what it's actually like, content and sense reality as may be. There's a line in Samuel Beckett's Watt that says "no symbols where none intended" (is Watt probably a pun for what?). Willfulness and content/position cases may still exist, generally and possibly in spin-like ways, possibly with cases like the young counterfeiter, Bartleby, or the Underground Man acting or thinking in different ways. In some cases, if you don't like it you can go suck an egg may come into play with regard to content/rapprochement. Camus suggested, "There is no fate that cannot be overcome by scorn", though I'm not sure how you'd sassafras feel about being head down in the mud of an Inferno or something, whether some conceivable negatives are due to stupidity or malice, how about "no cruel and unusual punishment"? Or something like Harry Nilsson's "Who Done It?", the latter part's kind of funny/pertinent, not that murder situations are common or wanted/liked/done by people like the singer in that song. |
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