is a good one, that any given canon should have authority? Johnson's observation on memory suggests an answer to this question. The answer, however, will lead us into some intricate and tedious arguments. Because we are not likely to locate truths univocally establishing values a canon can reflect, we must learn to negotiate the endless circles that constitute cultural traditions. We must find criteria for canons by provisionally accepting at least some received cultural values and by exploring hypotheses about human nature, themselves dependent on experiences mediated by these traditions. Indeed, we will find the theoretical terms needed to speak about a canon severely tarnished by the history that authorizes them. Ideals often cloak the most practical of special interests. Yet I shall argue that it is a mistake to read cultural history only as a tawdry melodrama of interests pursued and ideologies produced.