Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2002 20:11:14 -0800 (PST) From: Thomas Seay <entheogens at yahoo.com>
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So in order to flee from complexity, such absolute critics of postmodern philosophers cram the world into their simple black and white theories. Let's take an example from a recent exchange. I asked Charles Brown "which" Marxists he was referring to in a given context. His reply was something like "the ones that really understand Marx".
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CB: If I recall what you are referrring to , I said Marxists are those who follow Marx. "The one's that really understand Marx" is your distorted misinterpretation of what I said so as to fit me into your preconception of what I think and say.
As far as I know, I handle complexity as well as you and Baudrillard do.
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As if there could be no valid interpretation of Marx other than that of orthodox pro-soviet marxists. Of course, we shouldn't use the word "interpretation" because this smacks of the "bourgeois" relativism of Derrida...Right Charles?
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CB: Well, Thomas, I'd say that is a ridiculously simplistic interpretation of what I mean. What I am saying is a bit more complicated than that, but you seem to want to oversimplify it.
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Only one way to interpret Marx and it's black and white. Or as another vulgariser, Ross Perot, would put it, "It's just that simple".
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CB: No, interpreting Marx is not quite that simple. That's why you get distorted interpretations. For this reason, Marx himself once had to say he was not a Marxist ( distinguishing himself from misinterpreters of Marxism). You see , from Marx's standpoint, any old interpretation of his work is not what he meant. Marx was much more strict about interpretations of his theory than you are. Contra the postmods, Marx considered Marxism a science.
In general, I would say that Derrida and postmods are neo-Kantians, not unlike the empiro-critics that Lenin critiqued in _Materialism and Empirio-Criticism_, although Lenin's argument has some complexities, so you might have trouble treating it as simplistically as your discussion here :>). The postmods are involved in a flight from materialism.