Force & Truth (was Re: litcritter bashing...)

kenneth.mackendrick at utoronto.ca kenneth.mackendrick at utoronto.ca
Thu Nov 4 14:24:11 PST 1999


On Fri, 5 Nov 1999 04:41:54 +1100 Rob Schaap <rws at comserver.canberra.edu.au> wrote:


> G'day Ken,

B'day Rob!


> Sheesh! I need a break from this marking. Marking is that process during
> which a teacher discovers, generally around 4.33 in the bloody morning, and
> after much unpleasant labour, that he's not quite the teacher he thought he
> was. Sigh.

There is a great passage from the christian scriptures about this, when the robe of Jesus is touched, in Mark I think, and Jesus immediately becomes aware that power had gone forth from him...

What we see before us is a greatly diminished Rob... some power has left him.


> Well, for a start the transgressor is not always an avowed transgressor -
> more generally s/he is an ascribed transgressor (there -
a bit of Fouicault for ya) - so s/he ain't necessarily being a psychotic philosopher at all.

Zizek has words about this - something to the effect that a circular theory of power, cause and effect or some such thing, is perverted. Contra Foucault and in support of Lacan (as always), Zizek argues that the surplus of the effect outdoes the cause... or something such thing.... (you see before you a greatly diminished ken).


> In case people are missing my point, we all 'deny the
existence of the imaginary foundation of reality' all the time. You have to have REAL power to get people to see figments of your imagination as their reality. And we can't all be economists and/or postmodernist 'philosophers'.

Right, power is there to be grabbed (as Zizek tried to do when he ran for the presidency of Slovenia) (came in fourth).

ken



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