Inherent Vice: Adherent Meaning

[Robin Landseadel]

On Sep 11, 2009, at 4:52 PM, John Bailey wrote:

> Big question, I know, but: what does inherent vice mean? I know the
> textbook and Pynchon book definition, but in these list discussions
> I'm coming across a bunch of different interpretations.
>
> Does the concept refer to:
>
> An element of the object (which is a problem)
> A property of the object (which is a problem)
> A condition of the object (usw)

. . . maritime law and piracy . . .

> (I'm no philosopher so I might be using these terms wrongly)

It's a lawyer's term—it's already used to being abused, feel free, go  
ahead.

> In the first instance, for instance, you can see Manson as the
> inherent vice of the hippie movement. But if that's the case, remove
> the Manson element and the hippie movement's pretty sweet.

Remove the craving for the messianic and millennial and they are no  
longer Hippies. It's like Frank's old standard, love and marriage. See  
the Deadheads for more details.

> In the second instance, the breakiness of egg's is an essential
> property of their egginess. If they weren't breakable, they sorta
> wouldn't be eggs

Correcto-mundo: "Breakiness" is the Inherent Vice of eggs.

> In the third instance, it's the situation in which the object finds
> itself that gives rise to the internal flaw. An egg just sitting there
> in isolation wouldn't be at risk, but the simple fact that the world
> is full of egg-breaking things means that lawyers or insurers, at
> least, know of the egg's peril.

And at the very least may can turn that peril into a major income  
stream for corporate lawyers.

> Why I ask is, is that Thomas Pynchon named his latest book Inherent
> Vice.

Beyond the tackiness factor of reminding us of Miami Vice there  
Pynchon's age—72—to take into consideration. I'm sure TRP has been  
experiencing insurance adjustments as of late to go along with all  
those karmic adjustments he writes about. I'd say that Inherent Vice  
is entropy personalized. No matter what happens, Pynchon is always  
gonna be concerned with entropy. Another way of looking at entropy is  
death and Pynchon's no spring chicken, let's face it Charlie.  
Pynchon's looking at a lot of the same stuff he was writing about in  
"Lot 49," entropy could never be far away.

> But how you take that term would seem to alter your
> interpretation of the novel. If we say Bigfoot is the LAPD's inherent
> vice, or Manson is the hippie movement's, or pot is Doc's, or
> whatever... well, I'm still just trying to get a hold of the
> 'inherent' part. Would Doc be a better or worse detective if he wasn't
> high? A better or worse person? Etc etc etc please discuss.

Whatever else may or may not be going on, Doc Sportello does just fine  
as a P.I., thank you very much.