Qualifying Remarks Research Articles

Between Parentheses: The Poetics of Irrelevance in Virginia Woolf’s Experimental Fiction

The understanding and appreciation of Virginia Woolf’s modernist fiction demands careful attention, not only for the obvious complexity of its experimental form but also for the apparent simplicity of certain typographical and stylistic devices. Among these is the use of parenthetical expressions, consisting of explanatory or qualifying remarks inserted into a passage and usually marked off by brackets, dashes, or commas. Generally speaking, the main functions fulfilled by parentheticals have been examined and classified by Woolf scholars. What has received less critical attention, however, is the intrinsic nature of parenthetical constructions and the subtle, multifaceted implications of their actual functioning within the overall economy of every single novel. The purpose of this paper is to address a similar question, beginning with a preliminary delimitation of the scope of the analysis. Firstly, among the different types of the so-called ‘parenthetical expressions’ only the explicit use of parentheses (in the form of round or square brackets) will be assumed as a distinctive feature in order to identify a specific category of stylistic and narrative devices. Secondly, and quite obviously, the novel under consideration will be, in particular, To the Lighthouse (1927), inasmuch as it provides the most striking examples of the disruptive potential contained in Woolf’s parenthetical writing. A good point of departure for such an analysis, however, can be found in Jacob’s Room (1922), Woolf’s first experimental novel, which shows a long and compound sentence, inserted between brackets, significantly placed in the opening page of the book.

Absolute Poverty and Utter Nothingness

This essay briefly explores Bahá’u’lláh’s conceptualization of “poverty” (detachment from the world) and “nothingness” (selflessness); identifies five representatives of the greatest philosophers and prophets of all time—Muhammad, Socrates, Confucius, Buddha, and Jesus; describes each of their conceptualizations of selflessness and detachment; examines some commonalities among them and commonalities with Bahá’u’lláh’s conceptualization; and then closes with some qualifying remarks.

Balancing an insurance portfolio by class of business

The paper considers the benefits to be gained from diversification of an insurance operation into a number of classes of business. This is formulated mathematically. It is assumed that the insurer's objective is to maximize increase in utility of wealth over the period up to his planning horizon (Section 2). Several forms of solution of this problem are considered (Section 3). In particular, it is found that there is no benefit in diversification if the parameters characterizing the stochastic properties of the claims of each class of business are known with certainty. In these circumstances, utility is maximized by underwriting all premium in that class of business projected to produce the greatest profitability. It is also seen that, unless the concept of the insurer's risk aversion is incorporated somehow, for example by means of a utility function, no benefits from diversification appear (Section 5.2). The benefits of diversification arise from uncertainty concerning the basic parameters of the claims process in the various classes of business. A parallel with the concepts of diversifiable and undiversifiable risk from Modern Portfolio Theory is pointed out (Section 4). A measure of the balance achieved within a portfolio is constructed. A somewhat simplified version of the problem is considered in Section 5, and an explicit algebraic solution obtained. Of the total budgeted premium to be underwritten in a particular year, the solution prescribes the percentages to be underwritten in the various classes of business. The solution depends upon the projected profitability and the parameters underlying the claims process in each of the classes. Some verbal interpretation of the algebraic solution is provided. That solution is applied to a realistic numerical example (Section 6). The apportionment of total budget premium by class of business arrived at in the numerical example is compared with the actual budget of a particular insurer. A number of qualifying remarks concerning the application of the results of the paper are made in Section 7.

Erring: A Postmodern A/theology (review)

130Philosophy and Literature after all, a character. (Poteat commits the all too common error of confusing Percy's ideas with his characters', even as she claims not to.) While the strategies of Percy's fiction are more affecting and effective, his essays too have the heft of a man in a predicament speaking to people in theirs. In stretching for her larger cultural criticism, Poteat distorts several ofPercy's essays in order to discover the inconsistency she says is inherent in his method. In her third chapter, for instance, she cites two passages from Percy's "The Symbolic Structure of Interpersonal Process" which she claims disclose "approval of certain fundamental tenets ofbehaviorism à la George Mead and B. F. Skinner" (pp. 96-97). Aside from the fact that they do no such thing — she cites his qualifying remarks about limited successes ofbehavioristic method while ignoring the essay's major argument, characterized in one subheading as "The Incoherence of a Behaviorist Theory of Meaning" — granting concessions does not invalidate one's position. Acknowledging that I respond to the stimulus of a student's poorly written paper in certain ways, and that that response in turn stimulates my student to alter his behavior, does not make me a behaviorist, whored forever. Tarring Percy with the Cartesian brush, Poteat's primary strategy, finally fails to convince. Descartes cannot be die sole scapegoat for our predicament; philosophy has had its arguers for the absolute since its inception. Novels, however, are not primarily "instruments with which to think about reality" as Poteat seems to think (p. 19). Twenty years ago, Sheldon Sacks's Fiction and the Shape ofBeliefdearly set forth the relevant terms here: a novel is not first a statement of belief or "theme," but rather presents characters we care about in unstable situations which are then further complicated and finally resolved. More serious, Poteat's willful misreading of the final paragraph of"The Mystery of Language" (p. 91), and her faulting the ending of The Message in the Bottle for failing to conclude with a rational, coherent theory— such things are either dishonest or perverse. Hyde is loose. Central Missouri State UniversityMarkJohnson Erring: A Postmodern A/theology, by Mark C. Taylor; xi & 219 pp. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984, $20.00. Erring is a dioughtful, often brilliant attempt to describe and enact what remains of (and for) theology in die wake of deconstruction. Drawing on Hegel, Nietzsche, Derrida, and others, Mark Taylor extends — and goes well beyond — pioneering efforts like Deconstruction and Theology (Crossroad, 1982), my preliminary remarks in Reading Deconstruction/Deconstructive Reading (University Reviews131 PressoiKentucky, 1983), and his own Deconstructing Theology (Crossroad, 1982). The result is a major book, comprehensive and well-informed. Retracing some steps taken in Deconstructing Theology, Part One analyzes the intricate, mirroring relationship of the death of God, the disappearance of the self, the end of history, and die closure of the book. Interpreting "the death of God" as "not only the death that God suffers but also the death that . . . God is" (p. 23), Taylor presents deconstruction as distinctive in "its willingness to confront the problem of the death of God squarely even if not always directly" (p. 6). In Erring, as in other "deconstructive a/theology," such as that of Thomas J. J. Altizer, it becomes opportunity as well as crisis. After deconstructing the dyadic foundation of the Western theological tradition , Taylor moves in Part Two — less derivatively and more interestingly —towards a radical reinterpretation of God, self, history, and book as writing, trace, erring, and text, respectively. Undeterred by Derrida's insistence that deconstruction is to be distinguished from negative theology, Taylor argues that, "read through Hegel, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche, Derridean writing points beyond the deconstruction of theology to deconstructive a/theology" (p. 99), constructed around recognition of the relatedness of— rather than the supposed absolute differences between — binary terms. Opened by the death of God is thus die demise of identities and the advent of dissemination and relations. From die death of God comes, in fact, a radical christology, which "is thoroughly incarnational — the divine 'is' the incarnate word. . . . With the appearance of the divine that is not only itself but ... at die same time...

A model in which suits are brought for their nuisance value

By a suit brought for its nuisance value, we mean a suit in which the plaintiff is able to obtain a positive settlement from the defendant even though the defendant knows the plaintiff's case is sufficiently weak that he would be unwilling or unlikely actually to pursue his case to trial. This note considers a model of the legal dispute allowing for the occurrence of such nuisance suits (among other types of outcome). The main features of the model are illustrated in Figure 1. Specifically, the plaintiff may choose to file a claim at some (presumably small) cost. If the defendant does not then settle with the plaintiff and does not, at a cost, defend himself, the plaintiff will prevail by default judgment. If the defendant does defend himself, however, the plaintiff then may either withdraw or may, at a cost, litigate, resulting in a favorable verdict only with a probability (and a low one if his case is weak). Given the model and the assumption that each party acts in his financial interest and realizes the other will do the same, it is easy to see how nuisance suits can arise. By filing a claim, any plaintiff, and thus the plaintiff with a weak case, places the defendant in a position where he will be held liable for the full judgment demanded unless he defends himself. Hence, the defendant should be willing to pay a positive amount in settlement to the plaintiff with the weak case--despite the defendant's knowledge that were he to defend himself, such a plaintiff would withdraw. This idea is elaborated below in Section II, which presents a general analysis of the model using numerical examples. The situations in addition to that of the nuisance suit that are discussed in the analysis are those where the plaintiff's case is 'meritorious'--h e would be likely to prevail at trialmbut he would still not want to go to trial because the litigation costs would exceed the expected judgment; where the plaintiff's case is sufficiently strong and the expected judgment sufficiently high that he would be willing to go to trial; and, generally, where litigation costs are shifted to the losing party at trial. Section III formally analyzes the model and proves the results of Section II. The concluding Section IV considers the realism of the model, offers several qualifying remarks, and comments on previous models of the litigation process.

Dr Dyer's Urban Undulations

In seeking to purge what he seems to regard as the dangerously insidious views of an academic ‘gang of four’,Dr Alan Dyer has certainly eschewed gentle persuasion as the appropriate way of re-converting erring heretics. Being apparently the worst offender - and bedaubed in penitential ashes, as I clearly ought to be - it is then hardly for me to answer for the views of my fellow conspirators: Peter Clark, Paul Slack and Penelope Corfield. They are well able to stand up for themselves. All I have space to do here is to reflect on Dr Dyer's re-assertion of the neutralist text-book orthodoxy regarding the state of England's towns in the earlier Tudor period, and so to ponder whether a recantation of my own seemingly obsessional sins might be appropriate. I certainly do not intend simply to reiterate what the disinterested follower of this discussion might wish to read for himself, the actual arguments of my 1975 paper, with its qualifying remarks and its ‘handful’ of 75 urban examples.

Leadership in Perspective: A Comment

Messrs. Laitin and Lustick make a useful advance in conceptualizing the components of leadership skill. It is quite obvious that such a venerable but often ill-conceived topic cannot be exhausted, even conceptually, within the space of a short article. I should like here to make three qualifying remarks, which are intended not to detract from the advance made by the two authors but to situate their contribution within a somewhat wider perspective. These remarks are directed toward the impact or consequences of leadership. They concern: (1) the relationship of leadership skill to leadership effectiveness; (2) pathological leadership, producing negative outcomes; and (3) the Tolstoyan question about the extent to which “A king is the slave of history,” i.e., whether political leadership does have room for maneuver and can significantly affect outcomes.

Facilitative Therapist Attitudes in Training Parents as Psychotherapeutic Agents

The use of parents as psychotherapeutic agents for helping their own children is a rapidly growing treatment strategy. (E.g., Guerney, 1969; Johnson and Brown, 1969) For most child therapists, relying on the parent to do the job that once was his, instead of regarding the parent as a second patient or client, requires reversal of attitudinal field. Some soul searching is often required. A good place to begin is with the question, What attitudes on the professional's part are most likely to give rise to, and to maintain a high rate of parent motivation and cooperation in the role of psychotherapeutic agent? This paper presents one response to this question and may be helpful to therapists who are considering the use of the new strategy for helping disturbed children. However, some qualifying remarks are indicated. The consideration here includes only the broader therapist attitudes rather than specific training techniques which contribute to good rapport, high motivation, and the acquisition of the necessary skills. Also, neither non-psychogenic difficulties such as may exist in a neurologically impaired child, nor the special problems which may arise with a population of lower class parents, are considered. Certainly the

Management of Tetanus

To the Editor:— In reference to comments on Management of Clinical Tetanus (206:375, 1968), certain qualifying remarks are indicated. Sole reliance on antibiotic prophylaxis of tetanus is not indicated in our present state of knowledge, according to a statement approved by the International Conference on Tetanus held in Berne, Switzerland, July 15-19, 1966 (Lancet2:489, 1966). Repeated doses of antitoxin are not justified in treating clinical tetanus. The minimum dose is 20,000 units and the maximal dose is 60,-000 units for non-neonatal tetanus when heterologous products (equine or bovine) are used, whereas smaller amounts (3,000 to 6,000 units) of homologous antitoxin (tetanus immune globulin, human) have been considered adequate (Top, F. H., Sr. (ed.):Communicable and Infectious Diseases, ed 6, St. Louis: C. V. Mosby Co., 1968, p 620).

The Structure of Coryphodon

I OBSERVE in your issue (vol. xvii. p. 340) a note by Prof. O. C. Marsh stating that I have included in the cast of the olfactory lobes of the brain of Coryphodon that of a part of the nasal cavity also. Prof. Marsh fails to point out the qualifying remarks to be found in my descriptions. In the explanation of Plate I. of the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 1877, p. 620, I say, “The right bulbus of the olfactory lobe is too large above, owing to the want of preservation of the superior wall of the cavity”. In my quarto report to Lieut. G. M. Wheeler in Vol. IV. p. 223 of his Report to the Chief of Engineers, I remark, “In excavating the matrix from the Olfactory chambers some difficulty was experienced in attempting to lay bare the superior and inferior walls, &c. On one side of the bulb this boundary was probably passed through, giving a larger vertical diameter than the true one”.