(A Preamble to the entry Was Trotsky A Menshevik?)
As the reader already knows, in the course of writing this book, I have been using several reference sources, and I am grateful to all of them when they serve to refresh my memory or provide me with bits and pieces of non-essential information which can be used to highlight some particular detail. But I never rely on sources of this nature to supply me with critical information (in the sense of its essential importance), as though the content of my entries depended on it. All my subjects are chosen “idiosyncratically,” that is, on the basis of my subjective interest, and they reflect my peculiar point of view, based on my unique, lifelong experience, and constant contemplation. In my thinking, I have little regard for the authority of any reference source (in my experience, the most authoritative source may turn out to be the most unreliable one, if it presents itself as a carrier of some flawed conventional wisdom, under the cloak of its respectability, as is often the case), because the only recognized authority around here am I myself. This book is about my personal knowledge and understanding, and not about anything which requires corroboration owing to the “objectivity” of others. I am using external reference sources merely as props for my convenience, to illustrate this or that point, or to facilitate my presentation in such manner as I see fit. In some cases, though, I present reference material to the reader for educational and edificational purposes, when the particular subject is unusual, and it allows me to make a more general point which is of special interest to me, and represents one of the Grundthemen of this book.
(This approach makes perfect sense, of course, as the reader does not need me to rewrite an encyclopedia or to produce compilations from a number of them. As for my frequent “subjectivity,” I trust my reader to visit a variety of other opinions on the same subject in other available sources and from the sum of such opinions to arrive at a certain objectivity, which, according to one of my apte dictums, is nothing but a multiplicity of subjectivities.)
But on some occasions, such as this one, my reference sources take the center stage, in order to highlight, with their help, certain popular misconceptions or prejudices, which these sources have fallen victim to, and with them, public knowledge as such. My title question: Was Trotsky a Menshevik? will now lead us into an investigation of certain “reliable sources,” of which Britannica ought to be considered second to none.
As the reader already knows, in the course of writing this book, I have been using several reference sources, and I am grateful to all of them when they serve to refresh my memory or provide me with bits and pieces of non-essential information which can be used to highlight some particular detail. But I never rely on sources of this nature to supply me with critical information (in the sense of its essential importance), as though the content of my entries depended on it. All my subjects are chosen “idiosyncratically,” that is, on the basis of my subjective interest, and they reflect my peculiar point of view, based on my unique, lifelong experience, and constant contemplation. In my thinking, I have little regard for the authority of any reference source (in my experience, the most authoritative source may turn out to be the most unreliable one, if it presents itself as a carrier of some flawed conventional wisdom, under the cloak of its respectability, as is often the case), because the only recognized authority around here am I myself. This book is about my personal knowledge and understanding, and not about anything which requires corroboration owing to the “objectivity” of others. I am using external reference sources merely as props for my convenience, to illustrate this or that point, or to facilitate my presentation in such manner as I see fit. In some cases, though, I present reference material to the reader for educational and edificational purposes, when the particular subject is unusual, and it allows me to make a more general point which is of special interest to me, and represents one of the Grundthemen of this book.
(This approach makes perfect sense, of course, as the reader does not need me to rewrite an encyclopedia or to produce compilations from a number of them. As for my frequent “subjectivity,” I trust my reader to visit a variety of other opinions on the same subject in other available sources and from the sum of such opinions to arrive at a certain objectivity, which, according to one of my apte dictums, is nothing but a multiplicity of subjectivities.)
But on some occasions, such as this one, my reference sources take the center stage, in order to highlight, with their help, certain popular misconceptions or prejudices, which these sources have fallen victim to, and with them, public knowledge as such. My title question: Was Trotsky a Menshevik? will now lead us into an investigation of certain “reliable sources,” of which Britannica ought to be considered second to none.
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