2820 / a non sequitur. ‘Something of

a non sequitur. Something of, an anacoluthon

his thoughts, however, were far, far away

there were moments of late, when
a something of doubt would arise ₁
a something of distance ₂

a something of slow, doubtful, vague recognition,
as if the faint and indistinct resemblance of some features, once known,
were crossing his apprehension, — now lost, now caught, —
determined by a light, a shadow, or a motion;
and flitting as soon as seized. ₃
broken sentences; a something of ₄

and words, detached, did that as well, took on odd meanings ₅

A something of which the sense can in no way assist the mind to form a conception ₆
or a something of Nothing, as far
in a direct line from us here as ₇
a something of its own (lowercase z), ₈

But this would be ₉ a string of ideas that have no relation but
that of sequence, a sequence of non-sequiturs, so to speak. ₁₀

a non sequitur. ‘Something of an A kind’ ₉
anacoluthon and various forms of parataxis ₁₁

—

It struck me there was a something of mystery over this apartment; yet wherefore should mystery dwell where all breathes the ingenuous simplicity of the golden age. ₁₂

sources

Clouds and Sunshine; or, Truth and Error. By Mary Alicia Taylor. Edited by the Rev. F. S. Moysey, Coombe Rectory, Somerset. (London, 1854) / more
“Country Notes” in Country Life Illustrated (August 30, 1902) / more
ex Florence Macarthy : An Irish Tale. By Lady Morgan [“Miss Owenson”] (London, 1818) / more
The Rich Husband; A Novel of Real Life; by the author of “The Ruling Passion” [Charlotte Eliza L. Riddell] (London, 1858) / more
Leslie Kaplan, Miss Nobody Knows (1996; Jennifer Papp, trans; Tripwire Editions, 2025) : 25
on the general strike in Paris, 1968. —
Very small: reference points were changing. What once was important was important no longer. Or perhaps: the only thing that counted was space, empty space, and time. The framework. You were made to think of the framework. [25] But in a sense, to think of the framework is to think. You were made to think, to think of what it is to think.
Moving around, instead of staying at your place. Moving around: and words, detached, did that as well, took on odd meanings. Suddenly you wondered, really, you wondered.
—
Leslie Kaplan (1947 - ) : wikipedia : link
being the second of three examples of “Superfluous prepositions, whether due to ignorance of idiom, negligence, or mistaken zeal for accuracy.” from H. W. F. and F. G. F. (Henry Watson Fowler and Francis George Fowler), their The King’s English, Second Edition (1908) / more
Some elementary remarks regarding sensation and perception, and A Physical Hypothesis following thereon, and some remarks on space. (Edinburgh, 1880) / more
Adrian Daub, Uncivil Unions : The Metaphysics of Marriage in German Idealism & Romanticism (2012) / more
That identification of the adopting of the means with the very achieving of the end has a necessary consequence must not be mis¬ understood. It is sometimes supposed that the identifying thinking involved here is one that results in the recognition that the adoption of the means is only a case of doing something of the very kind wanted, with the implication that adopting the means must be the very thing that implicitly had been wanted all along. But this would be a non sequitur. ‘Something of an A kind is wanted’ and ‘X is of an A kind’ in no way entail that ‘X is wanted’ or ‘has been wanted all along’. The particular X has no doubt not been wanted before it was known to be of an A kind; it is not bound to come to be wanted even when known, unless it is though of as included in the very thought object of an actual want. The point is that the identifying thinking involved here is practical and not theoretical. It is not concerned with the inclusion of one propositional function in another, but of one thought object in another. What it yields is not a conclusion, but a change in practical [97] attitude. The only necessary proposition involved is the proposition that this is the change it would have to yield...
ex W. D. Falk, “Action-Guiding Reasons,” The Journal of Philosopy 60 (1963) : 702-18
reprinted in Ought, Reasons, and Morality : The Collected Papers of W.D. Falk (1986) : 82-98 (96)
snippet view via google books : link
borrowable at archive.org : link
—

Werner David Falk (1906-1991)
New York Times obituary (October 17, 1991) : link (paywall)
rather more, and of great interest, at a family genealogy page maintained by Jim Falk : link (20250629)
Robert Jamieson, M. D., “Lectures on the Medical Jurisprudence of Insanity,” (Delivered in the Medical School of King’s College, Aberdeen), Lecture 4.
London Medical Gazette, or Journal of Practical Medicine. 11 (1850) : 439-444 (443)
google books : link
Incoherence is an indication of the intellectual disorder in insanity on which I shall not long delay. Suppose that a person of sound mind were to give utterance to his internal thoughts just as they arise, the soliloquy would probably be a very rambling one, but it would not be incoherent. He would be sensible of the relation that regulated their succession, and even an auditor would be able to trace something of the connection of each thought with those that preceded it and those that followed. There would doubtless be certain links that had a disjoined appearance, because every one has certain special ties of association that are peculiar to his individual habits and experience; but on the whole there would be evidently a method in the thinking, and intelligible relations betwixt the several ideas. The incoherence of lunacy is not merely the expression of the vagaries of an unreined imagination. In its highest degree it is a string of ideas that have no relation but that of sequence, a sequence of non-sequiturs, so to speak. Incoherence results from all causes that occasion loss of voluntary power over thinking and expression. It may be the temporary consequence of undue emotion, the necessity of influencing delusion, the evidence of impaired memory, or of distracted or enfeebled attention.
Ben Edwin Perry, “The Early Greek Capacity for Viewing Things Separately,” Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Society 68 (1937) : 403-27
and reprinted in Illinois Classical Studies 41:2 (Fall 2016) : 477-494 (482) : link (jstor)
from which —
“As he [Homer] can neglect elementary logic in his syntax and similes, so he can neglect social and moral considerations when he happens, as often, to be interested in something else.”
— a wonderful paper this, and now.
on Ben Edwin Perry (1892-1968), see
Rutgers / Database of Classical Scholars : link; and
wikipedia : link
and see wikipedia on
anacoluthon : link
non sequitur as a literary device : link; and
non sequitur as formal fallacy : link
The Wild Irish Girl; A National Tale, by Miss Owenson (1806; Boston, 1808) / more

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