Date: Thu, 28 Mar 96 18:32 PST From: ctsntkds-AT-pacifier.com (eileen gebbie) Subject: Re: Reading the Order of Things - Las Meninas Hello, all! For starters I would like to thank Jim Underwood for his comments on Las Meninas. As I read it I questioned its inclusion, having previously only read Prose of the World. What was Foucault doing with this painting, why walk us through it so painstakingly? I have done a lot of thinking and reading of other authors about positioning of the self and science, the self and consequences, mangles of practice (thank you Andrew Pickering). In their use of philosophy-talk and apparent aversion to the "real" world, I have ended up feeling far from the literature ("humanities") I so enjoyed at the beginning of my education. But as is obvious from Foucault's use of the painting as a metaphor/model, philosophy and culture are not separate, and Jim's concise comment about "prescence and abscence" pulled the two together for me again. The next part of this message is addressed directly to Jane Redmont, whose summation of Foucault's influences I found informative. Jane, I would like to hear more from you about the intellectual climate of France (quite an aside from our topic, I admit). It seems to me that their great thinkers become much more widely recognized and appreciated than any here in the US. Is that true? To what would you attribute that? Do you feel it has the affect of greater philosophical fluency in the average wo/man (in both the sense of background knowledge and ease of subject)? Or are they simply better publicized, not read? I would appreciate any insights you might have. Cheerio all, Eileen Gebbie ------------------
Display software: ArchTracker © Malgosia Askanas, 2000-2005