Loaded Words - Marjorie Garber

What is the “other,” or opposite, of knowledge? Ignorance? Uncertainty? Undecidability? Theory? Belief? What is the “other,” or opposite, of belief? Unbelief? Disbelief? Doubt? Atheism? Agnosticism? Certainty? Knowledge?

How we define the range of signification and connotation here will shape the way we think about these contestatory, overused, and ultimately unsatisfactory terms, terms that are both empty and loaded. Empty because they can mean so many different things in different disciplines, practices, and semiotic schemes. Loaded because they are stuffed, even overstuffed, with “meanings” and implications, like a sofa or a fois gras duck or a comic farce. Or a loaded gun.more...