Tedium or Te Deum? (Re: Spivak & Eagleton)

t byfield tbyfield at panix.com
Fri Jan 28 11:54:01 PST 2000



> Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2000 12:58:36 -0600
> From: Carrol Cox <cbcox at ilstu.edu>


> > but what's up
> > with you asking questions like this?
>
> Simple. It has been my experience over the last 30 years that
> when someone tosses the terms "authoritarian" or "teleology"
> around they have run out of things to say and are merely
> throwing spitballs. <...>

n.b. that the very idea 'run out of things to say' (though keeps on talking) bears within it a certain teleology.

and, as an aside, let me ask if that's worse that throwing 100-ton weights of erudition? to my mind--granted, such as it is--asking yoshie a question is a bit like trying to as- certain what pigpen in _peanuts_ 'really' looks like. that she's incredibly erudite is beyond question--so what?

by 'teleology' i meant not some world-historical purposive narrative but, rather, a fanatical insistence on coming to very specific conclusions. for example, that derrida (i'll hasten again to add that i'm no fan of his) is useless, be- cause his writings always point at the same problem--which fails to conform to a certain ideal terminus.

i don't think i need to explain 'authoritarian,' do i? you may not see it, i do. if that's a spitball, fine.

cheers, t



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list