Steven Malcolm Anderson on Spectrums

Steven Malcolm Anderson is a true conservative and a true original, and a man of honor and deep integrity. For quite some time now he's been making tantalizing remarks around the blogosphere about his reading and thinking on "spectrumology" or the study of various illuminating ways of drawing up ideological spectrums— a topic which Steven has been been pursuing for many years. So I was intrigued to learn that he has begun writing up an introduction to spectrumology at his blog, Up With Beauty:

1. Introduction
   

2. The quiz
   

3. The "MAD" spectrum
   

4. But let's look deeper...
   

5. And deeper still... some books from Lakoff to Laponce

Steven's thinking on spectra (I love that irregular plural!) reminds me in some ways of the American logician and philosopher of science Charles Sanders Peirce, and his notion of "diagrams." Peirce put a great deal of work into investigating ways of diagramming complex propositions, and then manipulating the diagram as a way of performing logical operations, and moreover gleaning insights which are not obvious on the face of things. A simple example would be algebraic equations. Peirce's more complex examples look like a cross between Venn diagrams, a wiring schematic, and the kabbalah. And Peirce even pondered (shades of Steven Malcolm Anderson!) the use of "tinctures" or colors in his diagrams (CP 4.553).

Anyhow, go check out Steven Malcolm Anderson on spectrums.