Date: Sat, 03 Dec 94 15:25 CDT From: Jeffrey A steele <JASTEELE-AT-macc.wisc.edu> To: FOUCAULT-AT-world.std.com Subject: Self-reflexiveness (a.k.a. DJ feedback loops) I recently posted this on the Derrida list but thought it might be relevant to our DJ-feedbackitis. . . . Is talking about reading actually reading? What is the function (political, social, intellectual, otherwise) of such activity? Is a discussion of the preconditions necessary to read Derrida [DJ] an effective way of avoiding the difficulty of reading and interpreting Derrida[ Foucault] (since our own discourse is so much more satisfying, in a narcissistic sense, and lucid)? What is the relation between such discussions and the anxiety generated by the perceived difficulty of the subject at hand, a difficulty which might force us to acknowledge our own insecurities about intellectual "mastery," insecurities that the veryact of reading Derrida (because of his subject) exacerbates? If Derrida [DJ] shows us that intellectual "mastery" is an impossible (and politically suspect) goal, how do we demonstrate (i.e. perform) our own intellectual compentence so that others will take us seriously enough to let us join in the discussion? Is there any correlation between the compulsion to defend one's position (over the issue on how to read Derrida [DJ] properly) and the recognition (which is being deferred) that Derrida's writing [DJ's feedback loops] destabilizes the idea of the "proper"? Is there a connection between the need to establish one's own position toward the reading of Derrida [DJ], a position associated with the positing of a proper name (a signature), and the perceived notion that Derrida [DJ] challenges the very notions of a stable identity, proper name, and signature--thus undercutting our claims to intellectual authority? In other words, there are no more effective ways to postpone reading Derrida [Foucault] and to defend oneself against the subversive potential of his insights than to establish a discourse modelled on the lines we have been pursuing!! Jeffrey Steele, UW-Madison jasteele-AT-macc.wisc.edu
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