Reporting on the automobile industry on NPR this morning, a Journalist said something to the effect that, ‘These designers really know what the public wants.’ The class of these designers was being compared to the relatively much larger one that evidently does not know what the public wants. Because their are so few of them, they are highly compensated. This last point is only significant here insofar the fact of the compensation may corroborate the fact of their scarcity.

What struck was the use of the word ‘public.’ On the face of it, if ‘the public’ wants something, knowledge of what the public wants should be common place. Why, then, is someone who knows what the public wants somehow made exceptional by that knowledge?

I am not complaining about or curmudgeoning the usage. I simply find it interesting.

"Knowledge of what the public wants" refers to a skill or talent of divination. I reject this notion. Or it may refer to special knack for formulating hitherto the unexpressed or unamalgamated wants of the public, a sense of various trends: an intuition for potential markets. Or it may refer to something else.

It remains that ‘public,’ at least in certain usages (perhaps including electoral) makes ostensive reference (if I may be forgiven the redundancy) to a concept that is, to something something not ostensible. On the one hand (as used by the reporter), the word functions in the context of production—perhaps by means of the fabrication of an entity at whom the production is directed. By the same token, it functions to define a class and endow it with consciousness. Although it was not my intention to arrive here, it does seem as though the concept of class consciousness is alive and well at the heart of capitalism.

[I will not extend the discussion to the public’s wanting presidents.]

>[I will not extend the discussion to the public’s wanting presidents.]

in light of your other recent posts, I can only cry apophasis!

I see no way that a designer can know what "the public" wants. How could a designer get an adequate sampling?
It seems reasonable that a designer whose talent has enabled him to create models that sold well in the past is likely to have new ideas that will also appeal to many buyers. and therefore he will deserve to be well paid. I have wondered if designers have any way of getting feedback from the car salesmen, who have contact with large numbers of buyers, and so ought be qualified to have valid opinions.

Apophasis:The rejection of several reasons why a thing should or
should not be done and affirming a single one, considered
most valid.

So many feign to know what the "public" wants, but they could just as effectively divine everyone's favorite colors. The usage of "what the public wants" is interesting, I agree. The singular nature of public leads one to conclude that the thing wanted is also singular. This couldn't be further from the truth, especially with car preferences. The good doctor's utilitarian view is correct; appealing to large subsets of people may bring in the big bucks and sell cars. However, as with movies, it doesn't always work.

Funny thing about the cars we enjoy owning. My favorite is a 17-year-old little pickup truck with scratches and dents all over, no AC, seats that bleed lint and fluff, and a steering wheel that has been peeling for years. Many friends who own fancier trucks, for example, are jealous and wish they could beat theirs up and haul junk without fear. They sure don't sell new ones of those!

continuing the theme of the post in a totally non political way-- about learning what the public wants--

Nokia, the finnish telecommunications company, has been very successfull by watching what the kids do.. japanese companies too. just as children seem to recreate language every generation.. it seems children recreate technology..

the kids in finnland use phones to make calls but also for scores of other things the engineers never thought of.. so Nokia has a constanty changing group of kids who are a "focus group" Nokia focuses on what they like, what they use, what they want.. and makes phones for kids--- and surprise, surprise! most adults like the features the kids have thought up!

(the nokia tv commercial about using cell phones to track schedules of street car/public transportation is true-- the kids do track the trolleys in order to attack them with snowballs, but adults use the same feature to plan their commutes.)

Apophasis: The rejection of several reasons why a thing should or should not be done and affirming a single one, considered most valid.

is this from dr. bill's devilish dictionary, or summat else?

Apophasis... whereby we really say or advise a thing under a feigned show of passing over, or dissuading it.

Dear tsuwm: the definition of "apophasis" I used was from the byu site on rhetoric. Forgive me, but yours sounds like another definition of "double entendre"..

http://humanities.byu.edu/rhetoric/Figures/APOPHASIS.HTM

hmmm... OED2 has it coming from the Greek word for denial; here is the complete entry:
1657 J. Smith Myst. Rhet. 164 Apophasis+a kind of an Irony, whereby we deny that we say or doe that which we especially say or doe. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., Apophasis+whereby we really say or advise a thing under a feigned show of passing over, or dissuading it. [In mod. Dicts.]

the example given in Webster's New 20th Century is "We will not mention his many crimes."


politicians use this device all of the time. but we won't get into politics....

<<apophasis!>>

Yep! But really just a joke--especially for you (really), and meant in good fun only.
:)
IP

I believe the public just wants to believe their beliefs are believable. Now you have to convince them. I'm happy not knowing that what I don't know won't hurt me. You don't have to even talk to me... believe me!

..., as with movies, it doesn't always work. I believe IP would be much better at saying what I'm about to...

...never mind.

>I'm happy not knowing that what I don't know won't hurt me.

one of the current crazes in Corporate America is SixSigma®.
it's hardly worth getting into here, but one of the early stages or steps in the process is the recognition that "we don't know what we don't know".