Hauntology

[Cyberwave]

Hauntology is an idea within the philosophy of history introduced by Jacques Derrida in his 1993 work Spectres of Marx. The word, a portmanteau of haunt and ology, and a near-homophone to ontology in Derrida's native French, deals with "the paradoxical state of the spectre, which is neither being nor non-being", according to a professor at RMIT University.

The idea suggests that the present exists only with respect to the past, and that society after the end of history will begin to orient itself towards ideas and aesthetics that are thought of as rustic, bizarre or "old-timey"; that is, towards the "ghost" of the past. In this, it has some similarity with the cyberpunk literary movement. Derrida holds that because of this intellectual realignment, the end of history will be unsatisfactory and untenable.

The name and concept fundamentally come from Marx's assertion that a "spectre is haunting Europe, the spectre of communism". Derrida holds that the spirit of Karl Marx is even more relevant after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the demise of communism, that the West's separation from the ignorance of the suffering still present in the world will "haunt" it and provide the impetus for a fresh interest in communism.

The idea of hauntology has been criticised by a number of philosophers including Jürgen Habermas and Richard Rorty.

The idea of hauntology is perhaps not necessarily Marxist, but I find it interesting nonetheless. There's an appeal of deja vu, melancholic nostalgia, and mostly emotional value, but I think some of it can nonetheless be applied to analyzing society, artwork, and other things.

http://jahsonic.wordpress.com/2006/11/18/what-is-hauntology/

http://fs.oxfordjournals.org/content/59/3/373.full

[OhYesIdid]

Steampunk, anyone?

[RED DAVE]

JEEZ! When are these professors going to get away from their bullshit ways of avoiding active revolutionary reason and do something.

This shit is the same species that Marx denounced in the Theses on Feurbach. Interpretation in the absence of action leads to microscopic scrutiny of one's own bellybutton and fantasizing that it encompasses the world.

RED DAVE

[Cyberwave]

JEEZ! When are these professors going to get away from their bullshit ways of avoiding active revolutionary reason and do something.

This shit is the same species that Marx denounced in the Theses on Feurbach. Interpretation in the absence of action leads to microscopic scrutiny of one's own bellybutton and fantasizing that it encompasses the world.

RED DAVE

There's no revolutionary potential what so ever in hauntology, absolutely true. But I think the point is more of analyzing historical revolutions and future revolutionary activity. Ultimately I find the "movement" more or less based on "aesthetic," so to speak. There's no legitimate Marxist backing to it, so this thread was more to just bring it up. Nobody really calls for it to be practiced, because it's not something that can be practiced, per se.

[Flying Trotsky]

There's no revolutionary potential what so ever in hauntology, absolutely true. But I think the point is more of analyzing historical revolutions and future revolutionary activity. Ultimately I find the "movement" more or less based on "aesthetic," so to speak. There's no legitimate Marxist backing to it, so this thread was more to just bring it up. Nobody really calls for it to be practiced, because it's not something that can be practiced, per se.

I wouldn't go that far. Sure, Hauntology doesn't appear to have any major application for Marxism, but that doesn't mean it's without value to us. If we think of it more as a phenomena than something to be practiced, it'll help us understand (and by doing so, combat) traditionalism, Conservatism, and Fascism- all of which tend to be based on glorified myths of the past.

[Meridian]

The idea suggests that the present exists only with respect to the past,
Past and present are two different terms, which are principally not the same. Neither 'exists' besides our grammatical use of these terms, thus they do not conform to standards of speculative theory or any logical philosophy.


and that society after the end of history
The what?

[Cyberwave]

The what?

Marx believed that historical development was largely determined by material forces that would eventually "end" after achieving communism, because it would solve all the contradictions of the previous historical societies. In other words, it follows Marx's theories of a dialectical approach to history. It's not as though nothing is ever recorded, and nothing ever happens again; it doesn't literally stop. And from the hauntological view point, from what I think to understand, once this point does occur, a lot of imagery and other such aspects of those previous societies might continue to "haunt" history in some way, shape, or form.

But yeah, I find hauntology fascinating, especially when applied to artwork and music.

http://rougesfoam.blogspot.com/2009/10/hauntology-past-inside-present.html

Here's a great blog post on the subject.