From: "Ted Winslow" <egwinslow at home.com>
> Stanley Fish wrote:
>
> > Not so. Postmodernism maintains only that there can be no
independent
> > standard for determining which of many rival interpretations of an
> > event is the true one. The only thing postmodern thought argues
> > against is the hope of justifying our response to the attacks in
> > universal terms that would be persuasive to everyone, including
our
> > enemies. Invoking the abstract notions of justice and truth to
> > support our cause wouldn't be effective anyway because our
> > adversaries lay claim to the same language. (No one declares
himself
> > to be an apostle of injustice.)
> >
> > Instead, we can and should invoke the particular lived values that
> > unite us and inform the institutions we cherish and wish to
defend.
> >
> > At times like these, the nation rightly falls back on the record
of
> > aspiration and accomplishment that makes up our collective
> > understanding of what we live for. That understanding is
sufficient,
> > and far from undermining its sufficiency, postmodern thought tells
us
> > that we have grounds enough for action and justified condemnation
in
> > the democratic ideals we embrace, without grasping for the empty
> > rhetoric of universal absolutes to which all subscribe but which
all
> > define differently.
> >
>
> >
> > Ms. Sontag grants them courage, which she is careful to say is a
> > "morally neutral" term, a quality someone can display in the
> > performance of a bad act. (Milton's Satan is the best literary
> > example.) You don't condone that act because you describe it
> > accurately. In fact, you put yourself in a better position to
respond
> > to it by taking its true measure. Making the enemy smaller than he
is
> > blinds us to the danger he presents and gives him the advantage
that
> > comes along with having been underestimated.
>
> If "there can be no independent standard for determining which of
many rival
> interpretations of an event is the true one", how can we take the
"true
> measure" of an act and "describe it accurately" or discover "the
particular
> lived values that unite us and inform the institutions we cherish
and wish
> to defend", "the record of aspiration and accomplishment that makes
up our
> collective understanding of what we live for"?
>
> Ted
==============
Fish, Stanley title: Dean dept: Administration, LAS (M/C 228) address: 429 UH phone: 312-413-2502 fax: 312-413-2511 netid: sfish email_to: sfish at uic.edu