LightningBolt, Macherey

“Are there books which say what they mean, without being critical books, that is to say, without depending directly on other books?” (16)

Pierre Macherey’s quote caused me to start thinking about the context of books. While reading a book one assumes that the material and ideas they are reading are those of the authors and do not depend on any other sources. After thinking about this I have realized that this is not the case and it would be impossible to write a book and not depend on any previous writings. If there is nothing to compare an idea to then how can one evaluate the thought? There is no way to judge whether the idea is an intelligent development without looking into the past.

A book does not need to directly quote another book or author in order to be depending on them/it. Just assuming that the reader has previous knowledge on the subject is depending on the fact that they have read that book or whatever other media source they are relying on. For example when authors refer to the world and its structure they are assuming that the reader is familiar with the bible, or the big bang theory, or whatever other belief they choose to follow.

No one single person can do all the research in the world on one topic. When an author writes a book they must rely on previous assumptions, research, and data. This is no fault of the author; it is just how the world works. People are filled with information their entire lives, and once you know information you use it to shape your worldview. Even if a person was in a room by themselves for the first 20 years of their lives, receiving no information on anything and then was told to write a book, they could not. First of all because they wouldn’t know language but also because they would have no information to critic, better, or expand on.