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The Simple Declarative: The House Style of Logical Positivism


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1 James Cook University, Australia
     

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This paper investigates the historical connections between the mode of expression in writing called the simple declarative and the philosophical position called logical positivism. In doing so, the paper argues that the simple declarative is the house style of logical positivism. The pervasiveness of the simple declarative naturalises this mode of expression: the simple declarative becomes declarative knowledge. Crudely put, a thing is or is not; this is what the simple declarative helps convey. Although favoured mostly in the sciences, it is by no means endemic to them. Strunk's iconic "Elements of Style" confirms that the simple declarative is equally valorised in the humanities, or in academic writing in general. By definition, truth must have existence, and so the simple declarative arguably confers ontological status on the truth being expressed and ties the speaker to it. As the lingua franca of academia, the theoretical implications of the simple declarative need to be teased out, a task this paper attempts through an exploration of seminal, but not necessarily connected, texts: Huddleston (1971); Huddleston, Pullum, Bauer et al (2002); Derrida (1979) (1991); Wittgenstein (1921) (1953); Strunk and White (1979) (2009); Gibaldi (2009); and Lanham (2007).

Keywords

Logical Positivism, Simple Declarative, Style, Ontology, Academic Writing.
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  • The Simple Declarative: The House Style of Logical Positivism

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Authors

Soheil Ahmed
James Cook University, Australia

Abstract


This paper investigates the historical connections between the mode of expression in writing called the simple declarative and the philosophical position called logical positivism. In doing so, the paper argues that the simple declarative is the house style of logical positivism. The pervasiveness of the simple declarative naturalises this mode of expression: the simple declarative becomes declarative knowledge. Crudely put, a thing is or is not; this is what the simple declarative helps convey. Although favoured mostly in the sciences, it is by no means endemic to them. Strunk's iconic "Elements of Style" confirms that the simple declarative is equally valorised in the humanities, or in academic writing in general. By definition, truth must have existence, and so the simple declarative arguably confers ontological status on the truth being expressed and ties the speaker to it. As the lingua franca of academia, the theoretical implications of the simple declarative need to be teased out, a task this paper attempts through an exploration of seminal, but not necessarily connected, texts: Huddleston (1971); Huddleston, Pullum, Bauer et al (2002); Derrida (1979) (1991); Wittgenstein (1921) (1953); Strunk and White (1979) (2009); Gibaldi (2009); and Lanham (2007).

Keywords


Logical Positivism, Simple Declarative, Style, Ontology, Academic Writing.

References