No one can absorb facts without an implicit theory to organize them
Evidence
Having a sociological imagination would mean not just memorizing all the facts, ‘‘going to the library, to get an opinion,’’ as Cathy said. Solitary individuals cannot possibly do all the research necessary to take positions on all the important issues in the world, and nobody can memorize many facts without an implicit theory to hold them. When the activists I met heard a new bit of information, they would ask, ‘‘What organization said that? Why? Who benefits from asking the question that way instead of another way? What organizations say something different? Why should, or shouldn’t, I believe this organization?’’ Their implicit theory — that too much corporate power was incompatible with grassroots democratic groups like theirs — helped them organize the facts (and if a fact contradicted their theory, then they could remember it because of the clash). In many countries, class-based political parties tell people how to take political positions (Mann 1970).’ People need an organized map of the political world, not just a huge pile of unsorted facts. — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics, 1101
Categorization
- corroborated: 4 independent passages support this claim — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics: how Americans…, 1101
- XREF: connects to: Treating facts as neutral blocks requires a theory to organize them — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics: how Americans…, 1100; Facticity is only ever graspable as already recovered and freely constructed — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 345; Understanding arises only from perceiving causal links among facts, not from the facts themselves — Janet Burroway; Elizabeth Stuckey-French; Ned Stuckey-French, Writing Fiction, Tenth Edition: A Guide…, 471 (+6 more)
Broader Connections
- Treating facts as neutral blocks requires a theory to organize them
#corroborates(0.95) — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics, 1100 - Facts become science only when tied together by explanatory theory
#corroborates(0.85) - Categories require an implicit theory of why members belong together
#expands(0.85) - Open-mindedness is impossible because thought requires preexisting categories
#expands(0.80) - Facticity is only ever graspable as already recovered and freely constructed
#corroborates(0.78) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 345 - Science explains facts rather than merely cataloguing them; isolated facts are trivia
#corroborates(0.78) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 4587 - Understanding arises only from perceiving causal links among facts, not from the facts themselves
#qualifies(0.75) — Janet Burroway; Elizabeth Stuckey-French; Ned Stuckey-French, Writing Fiction, Tenth Edition, 471 - Reasoning requires recognizing real logical connections and relationships among facts
#qualifies(0.72) — Ruggero J. Aldisert, Agatha D. Aldisert, Logic for Lawyers- A Guide to Clear…, 247 - Theory is a necessary detour into concepts to break through the chaos of appearances
#expands(0.72)