That's because you think within the ideology of postmodernism (or, alternatively, to apply Foucault to Foucault, its regime of 'truth-effects,' its 'discursive formation,' etc.). A time for an Althusserian epistemological break, I say.
>I was particularly puzzled by the Orientalism bit.
Foucault, along with all postmodernists, evidently thought that there is such a thing as '_our_ thought' or '_Western_ philosophy' (and who is 'we' here?). The 'West' is the sign that works magic to unify the discursive formation of postmodern philosophy (just as Instrumental Reason was for the Frankfurt School) -- evidently a racial essence that cannot be deconstructed from within the boundaries of postmodern reason.
Doug wrote:
>I'd think a lot of
>self-identified anti-pomoistas would love Slavoj's "leftist plea for
>Eurocentrism."
Since postmodernists specialize in oscillation between horns of dilemmas, it is no surprise that some of them will eventually come out for Eurocentrism, given its persistent Orientalism, Primitivism, Third-Worldism, etc. Eurocentrism and Its Racial Others -- a dialectical pair of errors that leftists ought to avoid.
Yoshie