tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post6382959525308650155..comments2023-09-25T04:26:51.568-06:00Comments on The Barefoot Bum: Feminism and PostmodernismLarry Hamelinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08788697573946266404noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post-70507769605794548292007-03-27T06:43:00.000-06:002007-03-27T06:43:00.000-06:00Keep in mind that I do self-identify as a Postmode...Keep in mind that I do self-identify as a Postmodernist philosopher.<BR/><BR/>I try to split my time and attention between positive pro-good-Postmodernism (deprecating social and political authoritarianism establishing big-Tee Truth and promoting democracy and individualism) and negative anti-bad-Postmodernism (deprecating epistemic nihilism and promoting small-tee truth).Larry Hamelinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08788697573946266404noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post-79279359983917593332007-03-27T06:37:00.000-06:002007-03-27T06:37:00.000-06:00Love the bullshit discussion. I had some profs wh...Love the bullshit discussion. <BR/><BR/>I had some profs who did renounce their degrees as just glorified pieces of paper. They presented themselves as buddies, just like us, except they had read a few more books on a narrowly defined topic. Funny, once one prof told us a PhD is a joke, it seemed to be contagious as several followed suit. Maybe it was just a way to get us to pay for a round after class.<BR/><BR/>But I wonder, is PoMo entirely analogous to current feminist problems. They've both rejected Truth as something sent down from higher up - academics or the patriarchy, but, wrt Ren's situation, instead of there being no truth, some are just shifting it to be what one group believes (rad fems). They aren't rejecting Truth from authority; they just want to BE the authority that drives all the definitions and belief systems. <BR/><BR/>I'm a product of PoMo schooling, and so I do tend to, at first, accept other truths as equally valid to my own. But later, after looking at their arguments, I often have second thoughts. My hope is that the Truth comes out in rational discourse. Hahaha.Sagehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14481252201307998355noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post-15359502783208089122007-03-26T22:51:00.000-06:002007-03-26T22:51:00.000-06:00If you're serious about trying out Hoffer (his wri...If you're serious about trying out Hoffer (his writing is short and easy to read thanks to his aphoristic style), <I>The True Believer</I> and <I>The Passionate State of Mind</I> are the two best, and would only take a day's reading, at most.James F. Elliotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16747033407956667363noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post-46122012184254842092007-03-25T19:21:00.000-06:002007-03-25T19:21:00.000-06:00Simon Critchley on deconstruction:"Deconstruction ...Simon Critchley on deconstruction:<BR/><BR/>"Deconstruction is pedagogy ...<BR/><BR/>... patient, meticulous, scrupulous, open, questioning reading that is able, at its best, to unsettle its readers' expectations and completely transform our understanding."<BR/><BR/>Lyotard on postmodernism: <BR/><BR/>Postmodernism is (usually intense) skepticism of "grand narratives" (aka "myths"*). <BR/><BR/>It turns out to be the same thing.<BR/><BR/>(* to take one recent example, how many times recently have you heard the narrative "our soldiers are in Iraq defending our freedom and way of life" ?)Philip Thrifthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03021615111948806998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post-66516768563924183112007-03-25T13:02:00.000-06:002007-03-25T13:02:00.000-06:00Another (?) endorsement of Hoffer. I shall have to...Another (?) endorsement of Hoffer. I shall have to read him.Larry Hamelinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08788697573946266404noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post-61304164565354832622007-03-25T12:41:00.000-06:002007-03-25T12:41:00.000-06:00I strongly doubt that any person who has spent nea...<I>I strongly doubt that any person who has spent nearly a decade obtaining a Ph.D. is ever going to strongly argue that their doctorate is a meaningless social construct which gives them no more authority than an ordinary person.</I><BR/><BR/>Which is why my favorite philosopher is Eric Hoffer, who had almost no formal education but read voraciously and had a common-sense view of the world that cut matters to the quick. <BR/><BR/>I'm glad you mentioned deconstructionism. I find Derrida's theiry of inverting binary pair assumptions ("God is better than Man," for example) extremely useful. As Sturgeon's Law says, about 90% of what it's used for is bullshit, but that 10% is immensely useful.James F. Elliotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16747033407956667363noreply@blogger.com