The Fictitious Life of Elizabeth Black | a notebook.

Thursday, June 8, 2017

Obviously

This phrase from the New York Times Opinion article by Errol Morris about Crimean War Photography stood out to me.

In Part One (I haven't read all 3 parts) Morris examines statements people made about the photographs, and why - how - they came to those conclusions. He remarks on a passage in a book by Ulrich Keller, in which he states that "x is obviously h because...." To my liking, Morris takes issue with the evidentiary basis for these claim being that they are "obvious."

As I’ve said elsewhere: Nothing is so obvious that it’s obvious. When someone says that something is obvious, it seems almost certain that it is anything but obvious – even to them. The use of the word “obvious” indicates the absence of a logical argument – an attempt to convince the reader by asserting the truth of something by saying it a little louder.

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