Doty's Chaotic Writing Style Summary

Doty’s chaotic writing style can be compared to John M. Ostrowick’s published study in the South African Journal of Philosophy called “What is chaos and how is it relevant for philosophy of mind?” Ostrowick defines chaos as “a kind of pseudo-randomness,” but still “in fact deterministic.” My first impression was that anyone who tried to analyze chaotic things such as the way smoke fills up a room would waste their time. However, as the article states, “weather and traffic are very random but still give off a pattern to a certain degree of accuracy.” There is a connection that becomes clear from studying chaotic things like weather and traffic patterns. Similar to how knowing if it will rain or if there is a blocked highway allows me to do something

Although Doty gives multiple seemingly disconnected depictions of the fish, a single story comes to form towards the end of his essay. Doty says that although dead, the fish are not really dead because they live on through one another by being part of a larger group making their legacy carried out through that community. This was a realization he had later on when he thought about the death of his partner. “What did it mean to be a self, when that self would be lost?” asks Doty. “The one of a kind, the singular, like my dear lover, cannot last. And yet the collective life, which is also us, shimmers on.” Doty compares himself and his partner to the stack of mackerel by saying the fish is a group as Doty and his partner are. If a part of the group passes away, the group still lives on and the person/fish who passed, lives on through the group. Doty and his partner together become a group and although his partner has passed, he lives on through