A Note on Theory: 1

"Theory: A theory is a speculative attempt to explain a number of apparently disparate factors. The theory underlying a particular approach is often unacknowledged and taken for granted, as if it were simply part of the way things work. Eagleton puts this point as follows 'J.M. Keynes once remarked that those economists, who disliked theory or claimed to get along without it, were simply in the grip of an older theory... Hostility to theory usually means an opposition to other people’s theories and an oblivion of ones own’ (Eagleton, 1983 pp. vvii-viii) The point that theory is unavoidable is unanswerable: to be aware of what ones theoretical position is and to be able to defend it represents a minimum fulfilment of ones obligations" (Fernie, E, 1995 pp. 367-368).


Eagleton,T Literary Theory: an Introduction, Oxford, 1983, pp. vvii-viii. See also Terry Eagleton, ‘Discourse and Discos: Theory in the Space between Culture and Capitalism’, Times Literary Supplement, 15 July 1994, pp.3-4.

Fernie, E Art History and its methods a critical anthology Phaidon 1995, pp.367-368.