Phil makes three claims: (1) what the argument is; (2) that Steiner fails to bridge the steps in that argument because it goes outside his expertise; and (3) that most of the book is good argument irrelevant to the main thread. Point (2) requires him to be correct about point (1). But point (3), which is the point in Phil’s title, does not much depend on correctly identifying the argument, or even the argument existing.
It is generally more convincing to claim to have identified a buried argument and rejected it than to claim that no argument exists. But I think it is convincing for bad reasons. That the argument Phil extracted matched his interests and expertise is suggestive that his process of extracting it was biased.
Yes, if Phil is to criticize a book for fooling readers, it is important that he look at the readers and determine what they actually took away. But your suggestion that they took an argument away from a book is absurd. How often do people do that? Indeed, looking at the Amazon reviews, it looks to me that they did not.
Added: I think point 3 is the interesting point, and Phil clearly does, too, not just because he put it in the title, but also because he said so in response to a bunch of comments complaining about 2. Which makes this post an example of its own topic of a sideline distracting from the main argument.
Phil makes three claims: (1) what the argument is; (2) that Steiner fails to bridge the steps in that argument because it goes outside his expertise; and (3) that most of the book is good argument irrelevant to the main thread. Point (2) requires him to be correct about point (1). But point (3), which is the point in Phil’s title, does not much depend on correctly identifying the argument, or even the argument existing.
It is generally more convincing to claim to have identified a buried argument and rejected it than to claim that no argument exists. But I think it is convincing for bad reasons. That the argument Phil extracted matched his interests and expertise is suggestive that his process of extracting it was biased.
Yes, if Phil is to criticize a book for fooling readers, it is important that he look at the readers and determine what they actually took away. But your suggestion that they took an argument away from a book is absurd. How often do people do that? Indeed, looking at the Amazon reviews, it looks to me that they did not.
Added: I think point 3 is the interesting point, and Phil clearly does, too, not just because he put it in the title, but also because he said so in response to a bunch of comments complaining about 2. Which makes this post an example of its own topic of a sideline distracting from the main argument.