25 September 2010 - deconceptualization

Deconceptualization is usually conceptualized as a kind of reconceptualization, when it ought to be seen as a process of recontextualization. There are three steps. 1. Remove the concept, say “vital force”, from your thinking. 2. Rearrange your understanding to destroy the hole, as biologists did long ago, so that “vital force” cannot be put back. 3. Most important of all, you must now write “vital force” in quotes, and wonder how anyone could ever have fallen into such incoherent thinking. Congratulations, you are now ready to take on the art establishment!