On Sun, 10 Jun 2001, Rob Schaap wrote:
I don't see how abandoning science and
> liberalism for Foucault's radical relativism and
> free-floating-discourse-determinism is going to help. What dominates us,
> and makes it so hard for disparate 'knowledges' to enter mainstream
> consciousness is the way we organise social production and ever more frame
> human intercourse as exchange.
Where do you get this "radical relativism" stuff? Been reading too much Camille Paglia? You won't find any dramatic philosophical claims a la Derrida's "there's nothing outside the text" in MF's work. It's ironic to me that you don't realize that Foucault agrees with you about the importance of analyzing material, social practices. Again, I find it hard to believe that you've spent much time studying Foucault if you really think he advocated "free floating discourse determinism".
Can you actually point to any of MF's work that supports your "relativist- material-practices-don't-matter" interpretation?
Miles