[lbo-talk] Butler on Derrida

[Charles Brown]

There's a certain implication in discussing W and the other philosophers
that what they do is important in some sense. At least sort of more
important for society and humanity than say what baseball stars do. Doesn't
somebody , if not W himself, try to make a connection between "rule
following" and important world events like the ones listed ? W's colleague
Bertand Russell doesn't seem to think that philosophy and logic are
unrelated to important world events. 

I guess I don't get saying that W's work is an important advance in abstract
thinking and logic, but it doesn't have anything to do with important events
in the world. It would have to be a form of music or something.  Is
discussing W any different than discussing sports celebrities ?

Is philosophy just another sport ?

You know in football , they talk about "philosophy of football".

CB

^^^^^^^^

But again, he did not provide topical commentary on
anything. As far as I know he did not discuss in
print:

World War I (in which he was a soldier)
The treaty of Versaille
The inflation of the 1920s
The revolutionary movements of that era and their fate
The rise of Nazism
The Russian revolution
The struggle between Stalin and Trotsky
The Great Depression
The rise and threat of Nazi Germany
World War II
Imperialism in the (whjat we would now call) third
world
Women's liberation
Civil rights of oppressed minorities
Inequalities of wealth (though he gave away his own)
Gay liberation (he was homosexual)
The holocaust
The United Nations
The Cold War
The atom bomb

Probably I have left something out, but I tried to hit
the highlights so you would not have to ask. If you
are looking for topical commentary, he's not your guy.
His interest in rule-following behavior addresses in
part the skeptical challenge, how do we know we are
following a rule? Like, "add 1" or "use 'red' to mean
this color here." If that level of abstraction does
not interest you, don't read him.

jks