--- Dennis Perrin <dperrin at comcast.net> wrote:
> Caught this over at ZNet -- the famous linguist on
> the late French mystifier:
>
> "Chomsky: Foucault is an interesting case because
> I'm sure he honestly wants to undermine power but I
> think with his writings he reinforced it. The only
> way to understand Foucault is if you are a graduate
> student or you are attending a university and have
> been trained in this particular style of discourse.
> That's a way of guaranteeing, it might not be his
> purpose, but that's a way of guaranteeing that
> intellectuals will have power, prestige and
> influence. If something can be said simply say it
> simply, so that the carpenter next door can
> understand you. Anything that is at all well
> understood about human affairs is pretty simple. I
> find Foucault really interesting but I remain
> skeptical of his mode of expression. I find that I
> have to decode him, and after I have decoded him
> maybe I'm missing something. I don't get the
> significance of what I am left with. I have never
> effectively understood what he was talking about. I
> mean, when I try to take the big words he uses and
> put them into words that I can understand and use,
> it is difficult for me to accomplish this task It
> all strikes me as overly convoluted and very
> abstract. But -what happens when you try to skip
> down to real cases? The trouble with Foucault and
> with this certain kind of theory arises when it
> tries to come down to earth. Really, nobody was able
> to explain to me the importance of his work..."
>
>
<http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=41&ItemID=4107>
>
> You certainly see this on the "Manufacturing
> Consent" DVD Special Features section. Foucault
> prattles on on on on while Chomsky strains to make
> sense of what he's saying. I've known more than a
> few lefties who find value in Foucault's work, and
> like Chomsky I don't understand it. Are there any
> Foucault fanciers here who might give it a go?
>
> DP
>
>
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