English 2200F/G Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Escalator, Anagoge

• School: Western University
• Department: English
• Course: English 2200F/G
• Professor: George Donaldson

Document Summary

You have clear accurate idea of plato and aristotle. Second thing you have to do is comment on these ideas. How do we know that an interpretation is valid. What are the questions we ought to ask of piece of writing that we can be confident or valid. If half-dozen people see movie, half-dozen different opinions about different parts of movie. We can really only rule some interpretations out if we know the method which validity is established. We can see something in literal way: a tree. Second level is allegorical: the journey of a soul towards heaven, paradise, truth. What dante trying to do is propose valid criteria by which to interpret. We can recognize that another reading possible (dogs must be carried on escalator). We are accustomed to this when it comes to scientific research. The method of placebo essential in establishing whether new drug actually does what drug may do.