[lbo-talk] Marx without quotation marks

[Miles Jackson]

Doug Henwood wrote:
> Like I said, I've read a lot of Foucault, and I know what does and 
> doesn't interest him. I was criticizing your use of the 
> "social/discursive formation" as some sort of black box with 
> explanatory power. It really strikes me as an empty phrase.
>
> Doug 
Every theory uses terms as conceptual shorthand.  You're fond of Freud; 
is the unconscious "some sort of black box with explanatory power", "an 
empty phrase"?  My ambivalent assessment of Freud notwithstanding, I 
don't think that is a fair assessment of Freud's terminology, because 
his work explicates the characteristics and the psychological 
significance of the unconscious in some detail.  You may disagree with 
Freud (as I do in some respects), but it's not reasonable to claim that 
Freud failed to explicate the meaning of his terms.  --And just so with 
Foucault.

Miles