Jenn wrote:
In article , wrote:
wrote:
Well, this is where we will never agree, of course, but I don't feel a
need to *prove* these claims.
I truly appreciate the essential honesty of this statement. Maybe
it's time for all the subjectivists out there to just admit that: 1)
they can't prove that their beliefs are true; and 2) they don't
care that they can't prove that their beliefs are true. They just
believe them.
So true, just as I can't prove that I prefer yellow mustard to brown; I
just believe that I do.
A simple statement of preference like that is pretty much inviolate on
its face. (Though actually it could be tested whether you *really*
tend to prefer yellow to brown for its *taste*, or color, or some other
attribute you might claim as the reason)
Underlying it is an implicit claim of real gustatory difference between the
two kinds of mustard. That claim is quite reasonable , given what we
know about mustard and the sensation of taste.
Contrast this with a claim of audible difference between two cables
of similar electrical characteristics.
Once you're past that, you can start all the threads you want talking
about what amps and cables sound like to you, and which ones you bought
and why. Chung, Stewart, Sully and I will leave you alone. Just leave
out the part where you try to explain WHY things sound the way they
sound to you. If you don't want to do science, stop playing at it.
I'm afraid that this approach doesn't work. Several times now, when
describing why I enjoy the sound of X vs. Y, without getting into any
"science", I am in effect told that my opinion is silly because I can't
prove that I hear what I hear.
People naturally think in cause-and-effect terms. So they naturally
come up with personal 'reasons' why something is the way it is.
But *reasons* people give for why they prefer any X to Y -- or even
why they think X and Y are different -- aren't necessarily based on
sound *reasoning*. And therefore can be wrong. An example would
be someone insisting that they preferred A to B because A tastes
better than B, but in fact preferring B to A when the brand names
weren't known to them, so that the *only* information they had was
taste.
--
-S