[lbo-talk] "Theory's Empire," an anti-"Theory" anthology

Carrol Cox cbcox at ilstu.edu
Wed May 28 12:01:48 PDT 2008


Dennis Claxton wrote:
>
> At 10:57 AM 5/28/2008, Carrol Cox wrote:
>
> >No -- I think Jerry's use of "theory" (which is not quite mine and
> >certainly not that of the more careful followers of "French theory," is
> >still a contribution.
>
> But he is being pedantic. Shag suggested we "deal with the way
> people, here, are using
> the term." As I see it, that's not so complicated. Theory as used
> here is shorthand for critical theory, a term with a history dating
> from well before the '80s. What's the problem?

(I'm not quite sure of how "pedantry" is being used here; it's not tactically wise perhaps in a thread, or cluster of threads, which began with such an ignorant attack on things academic as the article posted by B.)

No problem that I know of. Several different topics have raised there heads in this thread & I don't see that any one of them is the only allowable one. (If Jerry _did_ claim that HIS "theory" was the only allowable use of the term, that is debatable, but in that case the procedure is to debate it.)

And/But your formulation, "Theory as used here is shorthand for critical theory, a term with a history dating
> from well before the '80s" raises yet another interesting question. That use in the '80s was itself an attempt to hijack a term (which had its own history) for particular uses. I remember when I first read the forum on theory and intnerpre6tation in Critical Inquiry (and I was quite innocent then of this narrowed use of "theory") being utterly baffled by the vigorous argument that Theory could not constrain interpretation, because I couldn't at first grasp this use of "theory" as meaning (only) "Critical Theory."

Moreover, there has not been much actual discussion of that history you refer to but (for the most part) merely assertions that it does exist (as opposed to attempts to detail some of it). My fumbling post on the subject surely would be worth at most a B- as an impromptu theme in an undergraduate Introduction to Criticism" class, and no one else has offered much detail, thereby leaving the field rather open, it seems to me, to following up any other usage of "Theory" that strikes anyone on the list a sinteresting. If Jerry is pedantic, I think we're all pedants together, which is not necessarily all that bad a thing.

Carrol



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list