The critic who denies his own subjectivity falls back into the serious
Evidence
But ambiguity is at the heart of his very attitude, for the independent man is still a man with his particular situation in the world, and what he defines as objective truth is the object of his own choice. His criticisms fall into the world of particular men. He docs not merely describe. He takes sides. If he does not assume the subjectivity of his judgment, he is inevitably caught in the trap of the serious. Instead of the independent mind he claims to be, he is only the shameful servant of a cause to which he has not chosen to rally. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Ethics of Ambiguity, 70
Categorization
Category: Causal Relationships
- DEFINE: Shows the boundary between genuine critical freedom and the serious trap: the critic must own his judgment as subjective or he merely serves an unacknowledged cause.
- SEED: Could anchor an essay on the modern intellectual or pundit class that presents partisanship as objectivity.