The vogue for intentionality is little more than symptom: of terror at the possibility of unintended consequences. "I'm always right... But what if I'm wrong!!??" Craftsmen are honest because in following their tastes before their ideas they elide or evade but do not lie. Historians study the products of craftsmen in a relation to them of antagonistic reciprocity: each side must respect the other. This is how we learn about the past, not by focusing only on what was intended but what was said. Science stands opposed to such relationships. There is no subtext to number. By means of desire more than logic, reason now supplants adversarial method, and expertise undercuts the moral foundation of the rule of law. --- Someone found me by googling "T.J. Clark and Vulgarity." In the post they found, I found this: "Art has to have substance and weight to be worth remembering. And in times of crisis, that weight comes from fear." I'm still laughing. not bad. Rereading Farewell to an Idea, Clark's language reminds me of Pynchon. Perversely formal, erudite, sad. But I can't leave it at that, since Clark is more conservative than Pynchon. He has the high-brow Modernist's distaste for vulgarity, and democracy is vulgar. Clark is closer to his friend Jeff Wall.