The Chair as Argument

The CultOfTheChairPeople Institute has been arguing about chairs since its founding in 1952. This book is the argument. Not a summary of the argument, not a history of the argument, but the argument itself: seventy years of positions, counter-positions, reversals, and at least three cases where an Institute member changed their position so completely that their earlier essays had to be included with a disclaimer.

The central question, which has never been resolved: is a chair primarily structural (something that holds a person up) or primarily relational (something that positions a person in relation to other people and objects)? The Institute's members have divided consistently on this question across generations, and the division does not correlate with any other variable the Institute has been able to identify.

Harold has read this book four times. Each time, he has agreed with a different side. He considers this the mark of a genuinely good book about a genuinely unresolved question.

The Institute has asked that this book not be displayed spine-out. They have not explained why. Harold respects this.