Butler, Nussbaum, Paglia

[Lucky Pierre]

Hi.
No, actually she teaches in the dept. of "rhetoric" (not really in the
classical Aristotelian sense, but perhaps in the sophists' sense, which
postmoderns like the late Lyotard found worth revisiting) at UC-Berkeley, a
very comp-litish, continental theory-oriented dept.  As you may know, much
continental philosophy in the U.S. has sought refuge in complit
disciplines.   Different philosophers (analytic p., phil of mind,
continentals) consider other camps less worthy of the distinction
"philosophy."  Perhaps the better question is to ask whether Hegelian
scholars take Butler seriously, as Aristotle scholars take Nussbaum
seriously (thus the two are really not at all part of the same academic
culture and are struggling to communicate with each other, as are many of
us on this list and beyond it). And whether feminist scholars take her
seriously, too (see Benhabib ed. _Feminist Contentions_ for a discussion
between Butler, Benhabib, Cornell, and someone else).  And then how does
power relate to what gets considered legitimate "feminist thought" or
"philosophy?"  Just pointing to some distinctions (in every sense of the
word) that we might keep in mind.  Personally, I wrestle with how much I
should critique an author for the time I spend "deciphering."  As others
have argued on this list though, I think we should not conflate the issue
of obscure (even intentionally so) style and inability to speak directly to
a mass audience with bad ideas/arguments.  She may be guilty of both or
neither.
Jayson
>I thought she taught in a philosophy department.  No?
>
>Michael
>
>__________________________________________________________________________
>Michael Pollak................New York City..............mpollak at panix.com

--
jayson perry harsin
Dept. of Communication Studies
Northwestern University
j-harsin at nwu.edu (773)508-4062
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