I wouldn't call it cynicism. Foucault is not saying that no true change is possible. I would say that Foucault would simply say that no change without a relation between networks of power and...
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I wouldn't call it cynicism. Foucault is not...I wouldn't call it cynicism. Foucault is not saying that no true change is possible. I would say that Foucault would simply say that no change without a relation between networks of power and...
Replies 64
Views 8,650
Because his writing is so "difficult" to...Because his writing is so "difficult" to understand. And because other people have called him a charlatan so they think it's acceptable to use the word.
Lacan, to me, is a mix between Freud and...
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Views 5,244
I believe Foucault won this one. It's...I believe Foucault won this one. It's interesting because Chomsky wants to seem reformist, that is, he wants to seem reasonable and pragmatic, but is constantly unwilling to question his own...
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Views 8,650
Mentioning self-help books, conspiracy theories,...Mentioning self-help books, conspiracy theories, reiki energy vibes, etc. doesn't prove anything other than the fact that you believe that all these things are "sorts of chicanery." But that doesn't...
Replies 64
Views 8,650
I'm really astounded. Do you have access to...I'm really astounded. Do you have access to Deleuze's writings that I'm not aware of? I apologize: I've never in my life read anything about Deleuze believing that events are not connected to each...
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Views 8,650
The issue is that Deleuze, Derrida, Foucault,...The issue is that Deleuze, Derrida, Foucault, Lacan, etc., don't need to defend their writing style. The question is how can their writings be understood and for whom is their writing helpful. It's...
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Views 8,650
I think we are doing two different kinds of...I think we are doing two different kinds of analyses here. What I had described is what each of these individual's projects were. That is, what they were setting out to do. You, on the other hand,...
Replies 60
Views 4,380
I say that we need to first clarify why we need...I say that we need to first clarify why we need justification in the first place. Why would any action, whether from revenge or love or apathy, need justification? What does justifying do? Why...
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Views 4,341
Causality is an illusion because it is not...Causality is an illusion because it is not something we actually can experience. It's something we "reason" or believe that we experience (e.g. the force of a rolling bowling ball "causes" the...
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Views 4,341
I cannot speak of the biggest illusion, but the...I cannot speak of the biggest illusion, but the most pervasive one, I believe, is the belief in causality. It appears so fundamental to the way we think and speak that overturning it is supremely...
Replies 64
Views 8,650
I completely disagree. Deconstruction is not...I completely disagree. Deconstruction is not about overturning "binary oppositions." Derrida has said as much in many different essays, including his most famous one, "Structure, Sign, and Play." ...
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Views 8,650
For Lacan, I can only speak obliquely because I...For Lacan, I can only speak obliquely because I haven't read too much of his work. Lacan's approach seems to me to promote a structuralist view of human experience. He believes that our experience...
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Views 801
Don't worry about changing the world. Worry...Don't worry about changing the world. Worry about changing something first. Foucault teaches us that where there is power, there is also resistance. And where there's resistance there are openings...
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Views 1,748
First principles. Ask first: what is it, this...First principles. Ask first: what is it, this "urge to dominate"? What does it mean? What is its purpose for people? Have you ever felt it?
When you try to dominate another person or thing,...
Replies 60
Views 4,380
There is a brilliant passage in Nietzsche's...There is a brilliant passage in Nietzsche's Genealogy of Morals, in the second essay, that describes this impulse. For Nietzsche, punishment is not a natural impulse. Rather, the concepts of...