[lbo-talk] How radical was Derrida? (was 'does anyone read poststructuralism anymore?')

c b cb31450 at gmail.com
Fri Nov 6 13:29:43 PST 2009


Asad Haider In the United States, appropriating Derrida led to apolitical scholarship, but it seems that studying Derrida can help us answer an important question: what is it about the American intellectual zeal against totalizing theories that leads to political apathy?

^^^^^ CB: Is Marxism the main example of a totalizing theory ? What would be another one ?

I imagine the US ruling class ( the ruling ideas of any age ar the ideas of its ruling classes) noticed long ago that political apathy is a good antidote to mass radical poltical action, and uses its very effective methods to inculcate zeal against totalizing theories as one way to make masses politically apathetic (?) It was probably clear that Derrida had this apolitical impact ? I mean anti-rationalism is anti-theory, no ?



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