Something out of the Ordinary Author(s): Stanley Cavell Source: Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association,

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OUTOF THEORDINARY SOMETHING

University StanleyCavell,Harvard
Division Annual Eastern Presidential Addressdelivered beforethe Ninety-Third Associationin Atlanta,Georgia, Meeting of The AmericanPhilosophical December 1996 29, IthappensthatI livedforthe firstseven years of my lifein a house placed the still threeorfourmilesfrom siteofthishotel,ina neighborhood intermittently in frommychildhood recognizable imagesof Atlanta.I realized, choosingthe to of this material presentinresponseto the honor delivering year'spresidential that of addressto our division the American Association, I was Philosophical how of to itas representing somefragment a mapbywhich figure that fantasizing distanceand direction the cityandto thisroomcan have been traveled.I into wantsuch a map,since I keep discovering I have to go backto collect that thatothersmaynothavecometo careforas I have. belongings A conjunction quotations, textsthatwere I think of from amongthe earliestI to calledphilosophy, give an as belonging some bodyof work may recognized about. ideaof whatit is Iwantto talkabouttoday,inimportant to reminisce part
The first is from John Dewey's Construction and Criticism, dating from 1929: As Emerson says in his essay on "Self-Reliance": "Aman should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, ... Else to-morrow a stranger will say with masterly good sense precisely what we have thought and felt all the time, and we shall be forced to take with shame our own opinion from another." ... Language does not help us at this point; rather the habits of our vocabulary betray us.... To know what the words mean we have to forget the words and become aware of the occasions when some idea truly our own is stirringwithin us and striving to come to birth.

Nowonder to do a little initial said,inthe recent ax-grinding itis commonly valuable rediscoveriesor reconstructions Dewey's achievements,that of is of And I continuation Emersonianism. nowonder keep pragmatism an intimate thatwhatis calledpragmatism oftenstrikes as an intimate so me finding negation of Emersonianism. whileDeweytakes up the Emersonian For theme of our suffocation conformity theaccretion unexamined and of habit, by Deweydiscards the powerthat Emersonpreciselydirectsagainstfixatedform,the powerof our turning wordsagainstourwords,to makethemours(oursagain,we might in manner whathe say, as ifthingshadever been otherwise).HowEmerson's callshisessays accomplishes task,andwhy,intheface of myknowledge of this howgrating manner be to contemporary his can I sensibilities,take philosophical itto be a modeof thinking without lost it has taking up as philosophy, been an insistent themeof minefora decadeanda halfnow. The quotation conjoin I withthatfromDeweyis fromNietzsche'sBirth of about whenDeweywas thirteen old earlier, Tragedy, published sixtyyears years and Nietzscheroughly twicethirteen.Nietzsche wrotethen:
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Art has never been so much talked about [by critics, journalists, in schools, in society] and so little esteemed. ... On the other hand, many a being more nobly and delicately endowed by nature, though he may have gradually become a critical barbarian in the manner described, might have something to say about the unexpected as well as totally unintelligibleeffect that a successful performance of Lohengrin, for example, has on him- except that perhaps there was no helpful interpreting hand to guide him; so the incomprehensibly different and altogether incomparable sensation that thrilledhim remained isolated and, like a mysterious

of aftera shortperiod brilliance. itwas But star,becameextinct then that he had an inkling what an aestheticlisteneris. of 22, (Chapter closing)

of Nietzsche's and existenceof the aesthetic portrait the unexpected vanishing listener recallsmeto an earlyessay inthecollection makesupmyfirst that book, MustWeMeanWhat Say?- so muchof whichis engaged by myneed to We an in and name justify interest whatJ.L.Austin thelater Wittgenstein theordinary - anessay called"Aesthetic I in Problems Modern of Philosophy,"which propose that Kant'scharacterization the aestheticjudgmentmodels the relevant of claimto voicewhatwe shouldordinarily when,andwhatwe philosophical say is with shouldmeaninsayingit. Themoral thatwhilegeneralagreement these
or claims can be "imputed" "demanded" by philosophers, they cannot, as in the case of more straightforward empirical judgments, "postulate" this agreement (using Kant's terms).

Iwas notablethento pressthisintuitive connection far,forexampleto very surmise be between arrogation the right the of whythereshould thisconnection to speak for othersaboutthe languagewe share and aboutworksof artwe cannotbearnotto share. I gestured comparing riskof aestheticisolation at the that with of moral political or but whatIcouldnotget at, Ithink isolation, now,was the feature the aestheticclaim, suggestedby Kant's of as as description, a kind of compulsion sharea pleasure, to henceas tinged an anxiety theclaim with that standsto be rebuked. is a condition orthreat thatrelation things It called to of, to, I and that standsto be lostto aesthetic, something know cannotmakeintelligible me. lost of Experience or missedis whatthe conjunction myopening quotations to speak about (Dewey's of missing an originalidea striving get formed; of Nietzsche's losingthe world in openedinart,instanced opera),andtheyare of a of This criticism hispresent culture. parts whatis foreachwriter fundamental wishedto wordmy interest Austin in the laterWittgenstein, in and especiallyI think whentheirprocedures as us themselves returning to the ordinary, present a placewe haveneverbeen. Itseems thatthe moreI might theirinstances find the I or trivial, morepuzzled couldbecomethatIhadnotrealized, couldnotretain the realization their what discoveries suchas, inWittgenstein, itis we go on of, or to a over walking, whyI sometimesimagine difficulty pointing the colorof an
24 PROCEEDINGS AND ADDRESSES OF THE APA, 71:2in calling something a chair, or saying that someone is expecting someone, or is

fact or fantasyof experience passing me by is also explicitly way inwhichIhave a

- PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS THEEASTERN OF DIVISION to object(as opposedto pointing the object).To knowhowto tellsuchthings,it of seems, is justto knowhowto speak. Myoblivion themcame to strikeme, but not my intermittently, exactlyas revealing lifeto be unexamined, as missed by me, loston me. of has itselfin missed,incertain theformsphilosophy interested Experience of is itself various myintellectual turns thiscondition, a themedeveloping through to in recentyears, ones I wouldbe mostunhappy excludefromthisoccasion, as ones thathave exactedtheircosts to justify partof a prosethatclaimsan of me inheritance philosophy; ones thathave afforded rarepleasureand yet instruction and companionship I mean for instance my interests in in and and and and,mostrecently an Shakespeare in Emerson Thoreau infilm extendedway, inopera. the To epitomize surprising extensionsof the theme,andas an experiment in the in thedifficulties thewayof showing sharing pleasures its and highlighting to the discoveries,I am going toward end of my remarks, screen a brieffilm sequence, chosen also so as to allowsome chance,on a verysmallscale, of in from of most,of to that showinga difference myapproach aestheticmatters coursenotall,workinaestheticsintheAnglo-American of philosophy, or ways in forthatmatter the practice Kant of not (though frompassages to be foundin or I Hegeland in Nietzscheand,forbetter worse,in Heidegger), meanthe sort of emphasisI placeon the criticism, reading, individual or of works art. Ithink of of thisemphasisas letting workof arthave a voice inwhatphilosophy a says aboutit,andI regard attention a wayoftesting that as whether timeis pastin the which the of work taking seriously philosophical bearing a particular ofartcan be a measureof the seriousnessof philosophy. but it enactment the of inconsequential; to mymind provesto be a memorable as whatis missable.Itis a routine a Hollywood from musical ordinary comedyof the early1950's, of a manwalking a train consisting essentially platform, along a is singing notevidently song demanding to himself.Theman,ithappens, Fred the world one of as Astaire, nowallbutincontestably by recognized throughout the greatest American dancersof thetwentieth century.Heis also incontestably muchof a singer,so thefragment contains openinvitation an not,or notexactly, to judgethe routine its apparently and uneventful cinematic to presentation, be trivial. is a task- one Iwelcome to tryto makesucha conclusion matter It a ofjudgment rather one simply taste;as itwereto challenge than of taste. To give this task a decent chance of success I need to do a bit more and in philosophical table-setting, thengo on to givesome detailsof myinterest thevoice inoperaalongwitha related in interest Austin's sense of the powersof speech. Ihaverather sincethatearlypaper assumed,moreorless without argument, of minecitedearlier, Kant's that location the aesthetic of as judgment, claiming to record presenceof pleasure the without concept, a makesroom a particular for formof criticism, thatsuppliesthe conceptsthat,afterthe factof pleasure, one articulate grounds thatexperience particular the of in of objects.Theimplication suchcriticism thatitsobjecthasyetto haveitsdueeffect,thatsomething is there, that fully openedto thesenses, has despitethatbeenmissed. Ishallclaim while
PROCEEDINGS AND ADDRESSES OF THE APA, 71:2 25 The fragment of film I have chosen readily allows itself to be dismissed as

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it is nota factthatthe Astaire routine trivial, sequence can be seen to be is the abouttriviality; to show thatwillrequire and showinghowits pleasurederives fromits location formal of conditions itsart. of A further variation the relation the ordinary whatmaybe seen as the in of to aestheticis takenup in a lateressay in MustWe MeanWhatWe Say? which to as goes backto my havingresponded Wittgenstein's Investigations written, however but of else, in recurrent responseto skepticism notas a refutation it; ratheron the contrary, a task to discoverthe causes of philosophy's as of, with, disparagement or its disappointment the ordinary, somethingI have calledthe truth skepticism.Inthatessay, "Knowing Acknowledging," of and the is missablebut as what is ordinary discoverednot as what is perceptually dismissable,not what may be but what must be set aside if intellectually to are aspirations knowledge to be satisfied.ThereI articulate philosophy's my sense of whathappensto philosophy's is aspirations sayingthatskepticism by notthe discovery an incapacity human of in butof an insufficiency in knowing what I of acknowledging in myworld think as beyondme, or mysenses; so that when I found,in a following essay on KingLear,thatShakespearean tragedy to enactsthe failure acknowledge other,henceforms lethal of attempts an a set to deny the existenceof another essentialto one's own, I came to wonder as whether Shakespeare'stragediescan be understood studies of (what as identifies skepticism. philosophy as) If in being drawnto the skepticalsurmiseDescartesreaches a pointof astonishment opens himto a fearof madness,andtheyoungHume point that a that presents itself to him as his suffering incurable an maladyfrom the of his knowledge whichhe seeks to protect (non-philosophical) acquaintances, a point to Kant that a represents scandalto philosophy's questforreason,then canthegreatliterature theWestnothaveresponded whatever history of to in has caused this convulsion the conditions humanexistence? Or were the in of not in airs philosophers to havebeentakenquiteseriously their of melodramatic crisis?Yetmight notwellhaunt as philosophers, inKingLear it that as doubt us, to a loving of love,or in Othello doubtcast as jealousy daughter's expressions andterror a wife'ssatisfaction, inMacbeth of or doubt manifested a question as aboutthe stability a wife'shumanity connection witches),leads to a of with (in man'srepudiation annihilation the world or of thatis linked witha loss of the in powerof orthe conviction speech? that has Or,again, shouldwe considerrather philosophy indeedproperly drawn moral tragedy, the of that know skepticism that namely sincewe allalready is some species of intellectual or we tragedy, folly, are advisedthatthe rational its but responseto itis notto revelin itorcultivate allure, to seek to avoidit.To
take a celebrated instance, when Quine implicitly blocks skepticismout of the courtof epistemology,thatis naturalized of epistemology,by (as in Pursuit Truth) the Cartesiandream" and enrollingphilosophy"as a chapterof the "repudiating science of "anantecedentlyacknowledgedworld," cites as a normative he point of philosophy'sself-inclusionin science that it "[warns] against telepaths and us soothsayers"(p. 19). Idiscoverthatthe year thatbookof Quine'swas published I was givinga lectureaboutMacbethin whichI articulate terror the Macbeth seeks refuge fromas an interaction telepathyand soothsaying. I spell them of 26 - PROCEEDINGS ANDADDRESSESOF THEAPA,71:2 -

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and namelyas mind-reading prophecy. Take them as terms of differently, enemiesof reason,and linkthemwiththe listof philosophy's criticism naming of in Within Limits Reason identified Kant's the irrational competitors Religion and sorcery. This whichhe names fanaticism, delusion, Alone, superstition, enemies of the Enlightenment constitutes fairset of a also budgetof favorite in of of and dimensions theeventsinMacbeth, indeed, different economies, those of inthe othergreattragedies Shakespeare.So I havealso ineffectsuggested the like are that Shakespeare's tragedies themselves something warnings against
cravingfor telepathyand soothsaying, and I do not knowthatthey and theirkin

has in havebeenless effective their than warnings scientific philosophy inits,nor thatto choose one againstthe otheris safe. of -what InQuine's construal philosophy's ambitions empirical for knowledge of he calls the construction "a unified system of the world" the only, but role is for indispensable, of experience to provide sucha systemits"checkpoints It in sensory prediction." is, I suppose, in responseto such an idea that,for William JamesandJohnDewey of that complain other empiricisms they example, he have a poorviewof experience.The richer experience Deweychampions of tendstocallaesthetic; Jamesmostfamously documents varieties thereligious. Even if you disagreewith Quine'sview of epistemology can enjoy the you of demonstration the power,even the beauty,of science in showinghowfara little experiencecan go. Whereasyou have to agree withJames and Dewey farther than I do - and I mean to grantall honorto theireffortsto save institutions in ordernot to feel experiencefromits stifling unresponsive by sometimes that they demonstratehow a mass of experience can go almostnowhere Deweyintoa hundred of abstract (for philosophically rejections some patentlyunintelligent thesis togetherwith its obviouslyundesirable for of antithesis; James intoa meresurmise transcendence). as we think follows?:Ifphilosophy science can be takento be what of May to is, is, philosophy thatis because philosophy andis content be, recognizable, orpracticable, (a chapter science;whereas as werephilosophy artto make of of) of itselfa chapter one or moreof the arts,itwouldno longer recognizable of be as philosophy. Without this is challenging now,whatI am proposing something rather whatI construeKant's of else, following examplesof the transgressions intersection Shakespearean with to it reason,intheir drama, suggest(perhaps is with tragedy (or, in Hegel's Hegel's suggestion),that the arts, beginning with be as aesthetics,ending tragedy), variously seen, orclaimed, chapters may of the history, development, philosophy, or of hence perhapsof certainof its I while extendthethought a polar to to presentmanifestations.amgoingina little relation tragedy,to a Hollywood of musical. It is a suggestionbased on two contentions I haveargued invarious that for contextsovertheyears. First, that inthemodern ofthearts- marked intheaudience period variously splits by (and of conception) art betweenthe academicand the advanced the greatarts take of condition togetherwiththeircriticism increasingly on the self-reflective philosophy (teachingus, let us say, to see thatKingLearis abouttheateras Othelloabout the catharsis, that Macbethis about theateras apparition, treacherous theaterof ocularproofs,Hamlet aboutwhatsurpasses theatrical is of is the show). Thesecondcontention thatthe medium film suchthat from
- PROCEEDINGS ANDADDRESSESOF THEAPA, 71:2 27

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time of its first masterpiecesin the second decade of its technological establishment- itcould takeon the seriousnessof the modern without splitting itsaudience,betweenhighandlow,or betweenadvanced philistine. and Toprepare for an as morespecifically proposing Astaire routine a checkpoint, or touchstone,of experience,I wantto summarize way it figuredin the the introductiona courseontheaesthetics film operaIgaveforthefirst to of and time two years ago. The idea of the course is that words and actions suffer in that transfigurationopera(theartwhichreplacesspeaking singing) bears by with on transformation film artwhich human comparison their (the replacesliving shadowsofthemselves).So mysummary mustbeginto beingsbyphotographic film formation and opera formchaptersthat specify in which philosophical measuresome particular of conditions these arts,orcallthemmedia. HereI shouldsimply confessthatmyinterest operais tiedto a conviction in thatmatchesyet one further I have formulated interest the workof an in way Austinand the laterWittgenstein. Theirsense of returning wordsfromtheir to metaphysical their everyday use is driven by a sense of a human dissatisfaction words(notas itweresolelya philosophical with in dissatisfaction) whichan effortto transcend to purify or ends by depriving human the speech of of speaker a voiceinwhatbecomeshis(or,differently, fantasy knowledge, her) a characterization I havegivenofwhathappensinskepticism. Wittgenstein's In case of a manstriking himself the breastandinsisting, on / "Onlycan haveTHIS we abandoned hiswords, abandoned or sensation!," aretowitnessa speaker by to merewords. Nowoperais theWestern in institutionwhich beginning the in same decadeas the composition the greattragedies Shakespeare the of of human voice is givenits fullestacknowledgment, that generally showing its by highestformsof expressionare apt not to be expressiveenough to avoid for catastrophe, especially women. Ifwe provisionally characterize medium operaas music'sexploration the of of its affinitieswith expressive or passionateutterance, then one specific as in response it invitesfromthe recentpresentof philosophy represented Austin'swork,is to determinehow his theoryof speech as actionmay be a extended,in a sense re-begun,in orderto articulate theoryof speech as thatcan proposean orderly of the effectsof the voice raisedin passion study allowthe studyof operato inspirephilosophy's opera;butthis mustin return interestin passionatespeech. To sketchthe progressof my thoughtsin this will for project stillnotexactlyprepare the use to whichIwishto putthe Astaire
sequence, but it willshare the burdenof significanceI load it with, and help to specify why I press it intoservice.
The examples which initiallyI ask a theory of passionate speech to illuminate

from emotive or expressive utterance that were the rage in moral philosophy, and

inspire new productions: The Marriageof Figaro, Don Giovanni, Carmen, Tannhauser,Otello,La Boheme, and scenes fromIdomeneo, The MagicFlute, and Lucia Lammermoor. di Iwantalso to be guidedbythewarhorseexamples
recall the list from A. J. Ayer's Language, Truth,and Logic: "Youacted wrongly

are in partfromthe operas I assigned in my course. It is important my for and purposesthatall are war horses of the medium thatthey still,or again,

so-called value theory more generally,in the years I was in graduateschool. I 28 - PROCEEDINGS ANDADDRESSESOF THEAPA,71:2-

- PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSOF THEEASTERN DIVISION

is instealing money," "You that "Tolerance a virtue," oughtto tellthe truth," and, "I most delightfully, am bored."Ayercharacterizes expressionof moral the but judgment, famously,by denyingthat they say anything "areratherpure of and to different expressions feeling, arecalculated provoke responses,andas such do notcome under category truth falsehood," 108),"they the of and are (p. not inthe literal sense significant" 103). Nowthe claimthatcertain familiar (p. are in human on utterances compromised theirmeaningfulness the ground that do of and is "they not come underthe category truth falsehood" preciselythe thesisto whichAustin, histheory speech acts, provides in of massiveclasses of counter "I (takethiswoman, the examples.Austin openswith examples do" etc.),
"Ibet you ..." "Iname this ship ..." "Igive and bequeath ...", and says of them: "It

seems clear that to utter the sentence (in, of course, the appropriate is of circumstances) notto describe doing whatIshouldbe saidinso uttering my to be doing...: itis to do it. Noneof the utterances citedis either orfalse: I true assertthisas obvious do notargueit" 6). Butthephilosophical ofthe and kick (p. of remarks aboutwhichhe is examplesrestson twoearlier Austin's introductory to we prepared say thathe assertsthemas obvious:"the typeof utterance are to consideris not,of course,ingenerala typeof non-sense," that"they and fall intonohitherto save thatof'statements"' 4). grammatical recognized category (p. Austin absent, it appears,fromthe types of utterances Notably goes on to are or that investigate those warhorseexamplesof Ayer's, theirdescendants, Austin's is to theory designed challenge.Thismayhavebeena tactical decision, meant shifta newargument to philosophically ground newsitefor to on fresh ("a fieldwork" Austinwould call it). But there is reason to thinkthat Austin's the experiencehad been fixatedby the way he rebeginshis theoryto include in from force perlocutionarydistinction theillocutionary of speechacts. Whenhe is ledto say, "[C]learly oralmost perlocutionary is liable be brought act to any any off, in sufficiently special circumstances, the issuing, with or without by in whichAyerwas tyingethicalwordsbothto "thedifferent feelingsthey are takento express,andalso [to]the different ordinarily responseswhichtheyare calculated provoke": Austin to here betweenordering someoneto distinguishes and gettingthem to stop by saying or doing something stop (illocutionary) or but is alarming intimidating (perlocutionary), Austin ableto do nextto nothing withthe fieldof the perlocutionary to his mapping thatof the of comparable It Austin's mustre-begin illocutionary. is fromherethatI am suggesting theory or again- goingbackagainto thefactof speaking itself, I might to thefact say, of the expressivenessandresponsiveness speech as such. How? of Let'sreformulate and utterance feelings the slightly say thatina passionate and actions I wish to provoke(Ayer)or bringoff (Austin) ones I can are or refusetoacknowledge, appropriate as acknowledge, specifically responsesto of true "I myexpressions feeling.Thisis presumably even of Ayer's am bored," which,if it is said to you by a child,is perhapsan appealfor an interesting and or suggestionorofferof amusement, ifby a friend (romantic not)is aptstill to be an appealandstillto set a stakeon some pieceof ourfuture together.You hadineither case better and observesthat"if say I answer, carefully. Again, Ayer to someone, 'Youactedwrongly stealingthatmoney,'I am statingno more in
- PROCEEDINGS ANDADDRESSESOF THEAPA, 71:2 29

of calculation, any utterancewhatsoever..."(p. 110), he is evidentlyinthe territory

- PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSOF THEEASTERN DIVISION

than if I had simplysaid, 'Youstole that money'... [and]evincingmy moral

I of (p. did disapproval it." 107) So presumably couldequallyhave said, "Why you take that money?,"which specifies that I am questioningyour conduct, and I suppose more drastically stakingour future. This would be clearer if Ayer had to observed, more explicitly the moralpoint,that saying to someone "Youacted wronglyin stealing"is saying (not no more than but)no less than that you stole

- for me to say?

itandis (not simplybut) distinctly disapproval. just expressing Ayer's suggestion thatthatis allIam stating be confronted suggeststheremight more.Buthaving whatmoreis there,exceptin you,questioned facedyouwithyourconduct, you, thesamevein- prepared Imaybe to reason, as uponyour response depending I propose that somethingcorresponding what Austinlists as the six to conditions(he sometimes calls them rules) for the felicityof necessary utterance holdsforpassionate utterance. Austin's (I)theremust are performative exista conventional foruttering certain wordsincertain contexts,(2) procedure the particular andcircumstances be appropriate the invocation for must persons of the procedure,(3) the proceduremust be executed correctlyand (4) certainthoughtsor feelingsor completely, wherethe procedure (5) requires for intentions the inauguration consequential of the musthave conduct, parties those feelingsorthoughts intend to conduct and so and themselves, further (6) so actually conductthemselvessubsequently.Nowin the case of passionate or all speech, inquestioning confronting withyourconduct, thisis upended, you butspecifically indetail. and Thereis (as Austin for to notes)no conventional procedure appealing youto act in responseto my expressionof passion(of outrageat yourtreachery or of jealousy over your attentions, hurtover your slights of of callousness, Call of the condition a passionate recognition). thisabsenceof convention first Ihavethestanding appealto or andlet'sgo further. to utterance; then, Whether, to question - to singleyououtas the object mypassion- is part the of of you to ensue. Call standingand singlingout the compound second argument condition passionateutterance.Thiscompound of for condition felicity, say or is notgivena priori is to be discovered refined, else the or but or appropriateness, it therefore executing of effort articulate is to be denied. Thereis no question to
a procedure correctly and completely, but there are the furtherunshiftable a that demands, or rules, (third) the one uttering passion must have the passion, and (fourth) one singled out must respond now and here, and (fifth) the respond
in kind, that is to say, be moved to respond; or else resist the demand.

not the Austin observesthat"The whois doing action 'I' [while alwaysexplicit] does ... come essentiallyintothe picture" 61). Inthe case of performative (p. utterancefailures to identifythe correct proceduresare characteristically to shouldnot have undertaken marry buthere is the the us, reparable: purser hard and can refuseunderstandably without feelingsthe offerof a captain; you to or betbeyond yourmeans,orrefusea giftas premature excessive;butfailure in havesingled outappropriatelypassionate utterance puts characteristically you the future ourrelationship, partof mysense of myexistence,on the line. of as One can say: the "you" singledout does come essentiallyintothe picture.A of in is of utterance anoffer participationtheorder law.Andperhaps performative
30 - PROCEEDINGS ANDADDRESSESOF THEAPA,71:2 -

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we can say: A passionateutteranceis an invitation improvisation the to in disorders desire. of Here a certain relationto opera, using the representative examples I shouldbecomemanifest. Let's sincehersingling with Carmen mentioned, begin out of Don Jose notablyproduceshis FlowerSong as his most articulated responseto her. Thisineffectacknowledges operaas the scene of passionate since herea set ariais directed Carmen to an audience, with utterance to as one thefreedom resistit,judgeit,as inappropriateineffective to or she does). (which Then there is DonnaElvira, perfecttype of the abandoned a woman,who receivesa perfectly conventional the as responsefrom man,DonGiovanni, she a he chargeshimwithbeinga monster, felon,and a deceiver: asks herto be and reasonable to give hima chanceto speak,andthencontrives slipaway, to to is leavingLeporello coverhistracks.There hereno beingmovedto respond, is out onlya movetoavoidresponse.Tannhauser singled byeachoftwowomen, or by each of two moodsof one woman,each timebecause of whatit is they avowthathis voice has doneto them. Hisresponseto Venusis threetimesto declarehis loveandeach timeto ask forhisfreedom; responseto Elizabeth his is to respond iftoVenusandthustocause hisexpulsion theplacehe has as from imaginedwas the field for his freedom. Lucia'saria of madness is the or that out recognition, absenceof recognition, theone she has singled has been silenced. Theextremity demand TheQueenof the Night vengeanceis of of for
in a sense matched - that is turned aside -

Almaviva's Countess answered Almaviva the is at spiritual purity Sarastro. by by of denouement Figaro a twowordpleaforforgiveness, in Mozart to attracting him with a Shakespeareanheight of understatement, whose one provide or it in there appropriateness, sincerity, is alsoforustodivine.ForIlia, Idomeneo, is no acceptableor appropriate responsepossiblefromthe manher love has to of out, singled since she is at thesame timecommitted hatehimas the captor mantakeson the position the abandoned as ifto denythathis isolation of one, has been lifted, suffocatesthe possibility response,no formof whichis and of bearable him. Bythetimeof Puccini LaBohdme, for and thereis nosingling out as by passion,no specificresponsetowhathas becomea general emotionality, ifthe powerof specificexpression as such becoming thing memory. is a of Ihavesharedthesense thatthe ideaof language expression unlikely as is to of in get veryfaras a theory language partbecausehuman beingshaveso few natural what when expressions.Butthisseems to meto underestimate happens creatures a certain of fallintothe possessionof language become and species humans. As I readWittgenstein, wellas Freud, as whathappensis thatthey to betray theirmeaning. Intheconjunction Austin's of and its appealto theordinary, specifically power to revealthe actionof speech, together the passionof abandonment the with in raisedspeech of opera,I can provisionally locatethe pertinence attachto the I Astaire to out sequencewe areabout screen. Eachof myclaimsof singling and of responseinthe operasrequires judgment the musicwithwhichtheyare a of elicited.With whatconfidence I placesuchjudgments, do especiallysince, for
- PROCEEDINGS ANDADDRESSESOF THEAPA,71:2 31

by the metaphysicalclaim to

her and her people; only the Gods can - and do - respond. WithOtello the

become victimsof expression- readable- theirevery wordand gesture ready

-PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS OF THE EASTERN DIVISIONall the fact that I was trained as a musician, my dominating musical experience is of a culture that does not compete with the operatic cultures of Italy and Germany and France. (I claim, for example, that when Carmen rejects Jose's Flower Song as a response to her singling him out, saying, in triple piano, "No,

to she truly, youdo notloveme," is responding as itwereobjectively, something

she hears in his music, or say his tone. But every other description I know of that moment takes her to be continuing to taunt the man and to seduce him into coming away into her life.) My confidence lies in recognizing that the traditions of jazz and of American musical comedy represent, for some of us, comparable contributions to world art, and if these can be taken as bearing on the experience

then wishto note,ontheissueoftheordinary) Iwill as ofopera(andindeed, Iwill

have what aesthetic reassurance I can claim, since I ought to be able to know and to experience just about everything there is in such a ninety- second sequence as we are about to witness. It is the opening number from one of the last, not perhaps the best known, but among the most criticallyadmired, of the classical Hollywood musicals adapted from a Broadway original, called The Bandwagon, directed by Vincente Minelli, with Cyd Charise as Astaire's partner. The judgment I make in asking you to view the sequence expresses my pleasure in it and awaits your agreement upon this.

Producedby Milkbottle Productions,Inc. 32 PROCEEDINGS AND ADDRESSES OF THE APA, 71:2 -

- PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSOF THEEASTERN DIVISION Now of course this particular experimentstands to be compromised(beyond questions of my tact in choosing the particularobject) by the remarkably persistent air of exoticism in presenting a piece of film in service of serious intellectualintentions,especially a popularfilm. But I do not see that the initial

this be come of mild indecorousness risksshould more disturbing, tothink it,than

holdinga philosophicallecturein a hotel ballroom. Letme set the scene. The occasion of the numberis thatthe characterplayed Astaire- a song-and-dancemanwhose star has faded in Hollywood who and by is returning to New Yorkto trya comeback on Broadway exits from nervously the trainthat has returnedhim,takes the awaitingreportersand photographers to have come to interviewhim,and is rudelyawakened to realityas a stillvivid star steps out of the adjacentcar and the newshoundsflockto her (AvaGardner in a cameo appearance). As our hero walks away ruefully,a porteroffers a remarkto himon the rigorsof publicity whichstardomsubjects a person, and to entitled"ByMyself." Let's begin uncontroversially.Fromthe beginningof the song at a baggage cart to the conclusion of the song at a gate, the camera has led the man in one

I know theystandit," how Astaire arrives hissong, at "Yes, don't uponanswering,

continuous it shot;attheendofthesinging stopsas he does andthen,as itwere,

Producedby Milkbottle Productions,Inc.

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within station the watcheshimleavethrough gate;we thencutto a viewfrom the and see the mancontinuehis walktoward humming same tune,then the us, as someone.Ifthiswere theater,the pause, and shiftnervously, if expecting the routine endwith exitoutof thegate. Beinga film, entrance would the clearly it into the stationmay countas partof the song. Overall seems as nearly had uneventful a photographed can be. Astaire begunsingingwitha as song of little a cloud cigarette self-conscious by laugh, magnified itsproducingpalpable smoke. Itis a self-reflexive responseto the factthatin himthinking (manifest as is that here,classically, melancholy) aboutto becomesinging.I report when I recallAstaire's of it withit a sense of emotional delivery "ByMyself," brings not hovering, so mucha feelingof suspense as one of beingin suspension,a spiritual bracketing. I cite two pairof factsto begina sketchof an accountof thistouchstone of one pair thesong,theother thepresentation, experience, concerning concerning or representation, the personAstaire. of About song. HereImerely the asserttwofeatures itwould impractical that be to tryto verify in I now,thoughIwouldloveto. First, was ledto it,or confirmed itssuitability, anessay ofthegreatItalian inwhich by composer Luigi Dallapicolla he announceshisdiscovery a tradition ariasinclassicalItalian of of melodrama the of at one (meaning tradition operaexemplified itshighest Verdi), thatuses by a quatrain - the phrasesoccurring the pattern form in with AABA, theemotional crescendopeaking thethird, B phrase.NowanAABA is thebasicform in or form of song in the so-calledGolden fromthe musical theater, Age of the American 1920's through 1940's,when the major the worksof Gershwin, Berlin, Irving Jerome Kern,Rodgersand Hart,Cole Porter,and others, were originally The the of produced. song intheAstaire sequenceis from Broadway production it satisfies the observation the emotional that climaxis reachedin the third The second featureI mention aboutthe song is thatits melodic and phrase. harmonic contributes the experienceto whichI assigned the to organization its conceptof hovering. HereI simplynote thatharmonically openingchord as a certain of form cadential that progression analyzes preparation can be said alsotofitprecisely in themostfamously controversial perhaps opening thehistory of monstrously of familiar music, namelythe openingharmonic progression Tristan. thesoundof musiccan eversensiblybe saidto represent If suspended animationsuppose Tristan Isoldeis the crucial I and case. Iturn the pair factsconcerning presentation the personof Astaire, to of the of andfirstof hiswalking.Recallto beginwithitsjauntiness, slightbutdistinct the of fromside to side as the platform being is exaggeration his bodyswinging he to his paced. Narratively, is hoping cheer himself, letting body,as William Jamesonce suggested,tellhimwhathisemotion Butontologically, could we is. itis thewalkof a manwhois known moveindanceexactlylikeno other to say, man. Itis a walkfrom which,at anystep,thismanmaybreakintodance- he is known fromothercontextsto havefounddancing calledforinthe courseof orwhileswabbing deckof a ship. Nowif the golf driving balls,or roller skating, hiswalking revealed does turn dancing, isn't into then what see of hisdelivery we to havebeen already a of case, orproto-state, dancing? dancing, sortof limiting
34 - PROCEEDINGS ANDADDRESSESOF THEAPA,71:2the 1930's and exhibits an ingeniously modified AABA form in which, moreover,

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Thenwhatis the he Weshould readily agreethatitisn'tjustwalking is exhibiting. of to to relation dancing walking of singing talking)? (or as Thathissongdoes notherereachunequivocal dancing, a song-and-dance to do, thatwe areforthe moment so man'ssong is normally confined, required to speak, to this dance virtuouso's moreor less untrained throwsthe voice, in of elsewhere on thequality thewordsand emphasisof interest thisnumber on of musicof course,butspecifically his "delivery"the song;thewalkis partof a its delivery. opera,delivery essentially function voice. Whatis called In is of is to from basisof the the "acting" available certain operatic presences,butapart musicaltheater,the voice, the operaticpresenceis ineffective.InAmerican reversed:unlessyouare identified a dancer, as some as or economyis roughly kindof clown,yourvoicewillhaveto be better trained Astaire's allthe than (for of (as perfection its own"manner"); apartfromthe basis of yourdelivery, it yet will weremounting voice),thetheatrical the presence be moreorless ineffective. does findhis way to dance, it is on New Astaire When,in his nextroutine, York'sformerstreet of theater,42nd Street,where, continuing opening his in adventures a space thatis nowan amusement overthe arcade,he stumbles outstretched of a preoccupied black shoeshineman,responds singing a legs by tinpanalleytunecalled"When a There's Shineon yourShoes," and,ascending theshoeshinestandandreceiving transfigurative is invited the black a shine, by dance. Therefurther unfoldsone of the most elaborate stunning the and in of Astaireroutines,one which provideshim with an occasion for history his for acknowledging indebtedness his existenceas a dancer- his deepest - to the geniusof blackdancing.(How such an acknowledgment identity fully is acceptableis a further one that I hope will be consideredin question, with connection theextraordinary details sucha routine theone inquestion.) of as Fromtheirpas de deux,Astairemoves intoa trance-like solo, quasi-dancing, in his that his to quasi-singing, which realization he hasfound way(back) dancing strikeshimas having foundhis feet again,as having refound body,and his his or the ecstacy is suchthatwhen,inhistwirling reeling through arcadehe comes acrossa coin-operated he his maneuvers bodyinitso booth, happily photograph as to have the picture takenof his feet (narratively, the shineon his shoes). of Notexactlyan abandoned womanbutan artist whose public dispersed, has he discovers fora comeback is himself mustbe singled orre-singled, that it that out, That discovery intact the of existencehereexpressesitself ecstacy as byhimself. is linked mymind Thoreau's in with once expressing recognition hisdouble his of of existence,say as seer andseen, as a condition beingbesidehimself, roughly the dictionary definition ecstacy. of or of Perhapsout of the experience, re-experience, thisode to his feet, we at some stage remark afterninety oras inmycase aboutforty seconds, may first walkwe vieweddown years afterhaving viewedthe film thatthe earlier the train is in platform framed such a waythatwe neversee Astaire's feet, not even whenhe dropsthecigarette has lastedthrough song to theground that the andsnuffsitout- so we fillinthe motion withhisfoot;he is throughout off cut betweenthe kneeandthethigh, that form giving conventional Hollywood of shot a further determinate Hisfeetfirst life. to into appear us as we cutto himwalking
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man - so I invitethe encounterto be read - to come to earth and join in the

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not of it, sungto himself, precisely humming butwiththe kind syllabification, by orproto-speech, musicians that sometimes toremind use themselves theexact of materialization a passage of sound, butwhichcan occur,as here, as an of unguardedexpression of a state of consciousness, in its distraction, disorientation, dispossession:DA:DA,DADA;DA,DADA. We shouldnotfail to appropriate evident this for triviality philosophy. Thatparticular consciousnesshas just been revealed us (by its delivery to in along the platform) concretenessand richness,expressedby whateveris on mind. Our expressedin the song thatis stillevidently thisfictional figure's of perception those syllables(DA,DA,DA),we mustbearin mind,is what,is all has of we essentially that,theworld so farwitnessed thatconsciousness; are alerted the fact,orthe convention to to the of according which, opening delivery the singingwas inaudible, and the openingproto-dancing unnotable, was within fictional its world.Hadthatcrowd passers-by the platform of on invisible, been awareof a man doingin theirpresencewhatAstaire,or his particular shadow, is doing in ours, they would have felt, let us say, a reportable indecorousness. (A different crowd,underdifferent conventions, mighthave I takethe unremarkableness missableness), withthe joinedin.) (the together remarkableness unmistakability), of Astaire's musical and (the syllabification, of the routine renders so, to emblematize wayof manifesting ordinary. that it a the That the ordinariness experienceis figuredin the image of walkingis in I have on several occasions foundespeciallyworthtakinginto something account. Letmesketchhowwe gothereanother to that way. Itseems right emphasize Kant's aesthetic contrast hismoral with is a form, (inradical judgment judgment) yet to be specified,of passionateutterance:one person,risking exposureto the of to in rebuff, singlesoutanother, through expression an emotion, respond that emotion action mainly speech),hereand and of kind, is, withappropriate (if now. Andit seems plausible assume thatif tragedy the working of a to is out scene of skepticism, comedyincontrast then worksouta festiveabatement of call of or of skepticism, it an affirmation existence. Nowthe utterance delivery Astaire's has song and proto-dance singledme outfora responseof pleasure
which I propose to read in terms of the concepts of psychic hovering, of
acknowledgement of origins which reinstates a relation to an intact body and causes a state of ecstacy. In my wish to share this pleasure I judge a scene of

the station,where, also, we hear himrepeatingor continuing tune he has just the

dissociation thebody, from within stateofordinary a which invisibility, (though you have to take my word for it now), subsequentlyfinds resolutionin an

as walkingand of melodicsyllabification appropriate expressions of the ordinary, as the missable, and the taking of a portraitof a shod foot as an ecstatic

of attestation existence.Suchproposed touchstones experience not,Itrust, of do at immediately thefuture stakebetweenus, buttheyaremeasures, to be put yet be. assessed, of whatthe stakes might
In bringing these remarksto a close, I pickup my earlierchallenge to myself

to say why takingskepticism in morethanrevelling its seriouslyis something the workof a moreseriousphilosophy need notbe to emptyfascinations; why takemeasuresto avoidthatdistraction.
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I haveportrayed working of skepticism Hamlet thinking thisas out in the of whathe knows- as Hamlet's Hamlet's notto know wish presiding to struggle his existence(thatever he was born), mademoreor less explicit when,in deny "This the lastact he proveshisexistencebyannouncing, is I,Hamlet Dane," the in "I oras Descartesphrasesthematter theSecondMeditation,am,Iexist,is true each timethatI say itorthink in mymind". announcement undertaken it The is as Hamlet some preparation, explanation, hisleapintoOphelia's or for by grave, as if facingthe death of love is the condition announcing of one's separate existence. Nowwhatwouldit meanto adviseHamlet, forhimto havetaken or to his of call measures, avoidhisskepticism, avoidance existence, thishismaking himself a ghost. He has been advisedto reasonableness his relations into by with whatIsupposeis the mostfamousscene of thee?").Andthe playcontains such advice we have in our literature.In thatscene Polonius's preceptsof moderation to showhisson thewayto be unnoticeable, uninvolved, far are or as as possible("Neither borrower lenderbe").Takenas summarizeable nor by Polonius's his from distance a echothe phrase"reserve judgment," precepts thy chiefpointsof adviceinancient life skepticism to livea customary (Emerson and to suspendjudgment. Butin the ancientworld and says conforming) to some,fora thousand after philosophy identified, was hence according years as was as skepticism an instanceof philosophy practiced, a way of life. Was then liveable? Is anything else now liveable? Whathappensto skepticism philosophy?
know'st'tis common,all thatlives mustdie .... Whyseems itso particular ("Thou

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