Subject: Re: Leibniz
Date: Wed, 16 May 2001 09:38:13 +0100


Bill,

> It seems to me after some reflection to be a quite difficult question,
> even profound.  Simon, you referred to Bourdieu's study of Leibniz--can
> you share with us some of your specific insights on this connection?  In
> any case, your reference suggests that there might be some connection.
> You have not even begun to show that the question is meaningless, if
> that was your intent.

My point was NOT that this was a meaningless question (and nor did I intend
 a personal attack). Rather I took the form of the question as representative
of what I called "misplaced concretism". I haven't got any insights into the
connection between Bourdieu's thought and Leibniz -- and, once again, this was
my point: that, given Bourdieu's equivocal relationship to philosophy, even to
begin to unravel the strands here would be a fantastically difficult task,
strewn with all sorts of false trails, snares and decoys. So to approach the
question as if it could yield an answer in terms of direct lines of influence --
as in Spinoza's presumed influence on  Althusser, "presumably in terms of lack
of free will and monism" -- would be to get off very badly on the wrong foot.

Incidentally, the way in which the question was posed means that it could not be
seen as a simple request for information -- "However I have been doing some
reading (starting from a point of almost total ignorance) and wanted to try to
get some suggestions for further reading. I thought that not an unreasonable
request". It wasn't as innocent as that. I haven't a clue who the questioner is
or what his status is, and certainly don't sneer at honest acknowledgements of
ignorance. I hope I would have responded in exactly the same way if he had
turned out to be the Regius Professor of Bourdieu Studies at Oxford University.

> The question is all the more provocative given the paragraph from Le
> Monde that begins: "C'est surtout par rapport aux philosophes que Pierre
> Bourdieu ... a voulu se situer."

No one, I think, has maintained that Bourdieu does not have a very complicated
relationship with philosophy. "Rapport", however, is the kind of journalistic
simplification Bourdieu has often inveighed against.

Regards
Simon











**********************************************************************
Contributions: bourdieu-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
Commands: majordomo-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
Requests: bourdieu-approval-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu