But it does mean that the writing of King Lear is less of an epistemic achievement than, say, the laws of physics, which are not dependent on a particular species’ form of communication.
If King Lear is (claimed to be) a good work, given a certain language (humanity? evolutionary history? political history?), does the recognition of its supposed greatness survive deletion of the knowledge about what the kewl kids think is great?
If people continued to speak English, but King Lear fell out of fashion and later was found, but disconnected from anyone’s recommendation, would people still decide it was better than most other works? Would they decide it for the same reason?
Do children spontaneously flock to King Lear at a certain age, even when it’s not recommended to them by a True Literary Authority?
If King Lear is (claimed to be) a good work, given a certain language (humanity? evolutionary history? political history?), does the recognition of its supposed greatness survive deletion of the knowledge about what the kewl kids think is great?
Of course not. It doesn’t even come with 3D special effects!
But it does mean that the writing of King Lear is less of an epistemic achievement than, say, the laws of physics, which are not dependent on a particular species’ form of communication.
If King Lear is (claimed to be) a good work, given a certain language (humanity? evolutionary history? political history?), does the recognition of its supposed greatness survive deletion of the knowledge about what the kewl kids think is great?
If people continued to speak English, but King Lear fell out of fashion and later was found, but disconnected from anyone’s recommendation, would people still decide it was better than most other works? Would they decide it for the same reason?
Do children spontaneously flock to King Lear at a certain age, even when it’s not recommended to them by a True Literary Authority?
Of course not. It doesn’t even come with 3D special effects!