Richard Posner reviews a new biography of Justice William O. Douglas for The New Republic (linked via InstaPundit). As a scholar, Posner leaves me in awe. He is not merely terrifyingly smart. He writes fast (I seriously believe that he writes faster than I can read) and he writes very well. But his review has this mystifying sentence.
For it is not true that a judge cannot achieve greatness without embracing formalism.
I defy anyone to understand that sentence without kicking out at least one of the negatives, and then working it out from there. This reminds me of a Sidney Morgenbesser incident. Morgenbesser is a distinguished philosopher at Columbia. At a conference, a linguist was explaining that although there were cases where a double negative meant a positive, and cases where a double negative meant a negative, there were no cases where a double positive meant a positive. From the back of the room, Morgenbesser says, "Yeah, yeah." [I got this at nth hand (with large n) from a philosopher, so I probably have the details wrong, but I like the story regardless.]
While I'm on Sidney Morgenbesser, I might as well repeat a Sidney Morgenbesser joke. Sidney Morgenbesser walks into a restaurant, has dinner, and then asks the waitress what they have for dessert. She says apple pie and blueberry pie. Sidney Morgenbesser says he'll have the apple pie. She comes back in a moment and says that they also have cherry pie. So Sidney Morgenbesser says "In that case, I'll have the blueberry pie."
Posted by sjostrom on February 20, 2003 02:59 PM
Comments:
Here's my favorite double negative joke, from the Simpsons:
Bart is looking through a book that has the devilish "Johnny Don't" on one page and the angelic "Johnny Does" on the facing page. Over the top is the warning: "Don't do what Johnny Don't does!"
Posted by: Dom on February 21, 2003 12:33 PM [Permalink]
Here's the story 3rd hand, from someone who studied philosophy at Columbia (Morgenbesser's department).
A famous linguist is explaining to a large hall at a conference on the Columbia campus that double negatives can mean a positive, but never the reverse. There are no languages where a double positive actually means a negative. From the back of the room comes Morgenbesser's voice: "Yeahhh, yeahhh!"
Posted by: Amol on April 24, 2003 05:47 AM [Permalink]
Sidney Morgenbesser was a professor of mine when I was a Philosophy major at Columbia in the mid-1970's. Another quote attributable to Prof. Morgenbesser had to do with Pragmatism: he said, "It is correct in theory, but not in practice."
In the 1980's, THE NEW YORK TIMES Magazine Section carried a cover article about philospher Saul Kripke; Kripke recounted the "Yeah, Yeah" story that Morgenbesser is famed and beloved for (among other things).
Rest in Peace, dear Prof. Morgenbesser.
(August 2, 2004)
Sidney Morgenbesser was amazing to listen to. He turned things over from so many different points of view in one sentence. That's probably why he did not write long books. He was also one of the kindest people I have ever known. He will be missed,
Posted by: Steven Harris on August 3, 2004 02:01 PM [Permalink]
