Spectrevision Radio

Welcome to Weird Studies, an arts and philosophy podcast with hosts Phil Ford and J.F. Martel.

For more episodes, or to support the podcast,

go to weirdstudies.com. Hi, welcome to Weird Studies. This is Phil.

From time to time, J.F. and I have referred to the thick or thin end of the wedge,

generally without so much as a word of explanation. I suppose we're hoping that our meaning

will be clear from context, but it never is, and we've put off making it any clearer for some nine years. It's a bit of

philosophical shorthand that J.F. and I started using back in 2016 when we were sustaining a voluminous

philosophical correspondence that, a couple of years later, metamorphosed into this podcast. Back then, we were still getting to know one

another's characteristic moves and thinking, like a couple of boxers, circling one another and

studying each other's style in the ring. J.F. is the classic boxer, keeping opponents on the outside,

peppering them with jabs and keeping them guessing

with his stylish footwork. Me, I'm a slugger, always trying to get in close and lay hands on you.

Anyway, at some point I remarked that my typical move is to think problems from the thin end of the

wedge. That's an expression you use to describe small interventions that have big implications.

You might use it, for example, when someone allows an exception to a rule.

The red-headed league decrees that all members have bright red hair,

but perhaps in some cases we might allow for formerly red heads

that have turned gray.

Ah, that's the thin end of the wedge, says a hardliner who will admit no exceptions,

which means that something small can wedge itself into the existing state of affairs and

have a big effect.

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