From: EricMurph-AT-aol.com
Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 23:29:23 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: lost messages


Toni Sant was kind enough to re-post my previous message.  I think that may
have more detail that will supplement my latest post.  My own thinking is
somewhat loose around this, but I think that in connection to "reason"
Lytotard relates to paradigm theory in the following manner.  An existing
paradigm acts as a system of representations, a language game, or genre of
discourse that define a certain sphere of reality. What the system leaves out
(suppresses, ignores)  is the sublime; that which cannot be represented; the
Event, what is happening.

For me the paralogical is what patrols these borderlands.  It is the attempt
to confound the system by pointing(because it cannot be described) that which
the system leaves out - what paradigm theory calls the anomaly.  This can
veer towards paradox and contradiction.

The paralogical also takes the form of creating new moves in the game.  As
McCluhan once said; the content of any new media is always the old one -
hence, an automobile was called a horseless carriage.

I guess what I am trying to say here is that the paralogical attempts to
think outside of the existing frames, patterns, and preconceptions - seeing
the world in a fresher way - moving back & forth between figure and
discourse.

This activity takes place in science and art (strangely in similar ways) as
the search for new theories and models, new ways of seeing.  The paralogical
tends to act as a kind of trigger for these mechanisms.

My concern is that this has political dimensions as well.  As Benjamin
pointed out, the pursuit of novelty is guided by eternal recurrence.  The
history of exhaustion.  

This has been a ramble, not a dissertation.  I hope we can continue to
discuss more fully and maybe others can join in as well.

Regarding your other comments - yes, I think in the corporate world today
coping with the continual rate of change has made organizations more fluid
(and power more concentrated)  Today's business motto is:  "If it isn't
broke, then break it."  Corporate types don't use the word "paralogical", but
I think they are talking about something very similar.  Here, however,  gains
in innovation lead to leveraging in power.

With regard to paradigm theory, again, the question becomes what new way of
reframing can lead to the creation of a new model or paradigm?  Can this
reframing be taught as a method? I believe this is the locus of the
paralogical.

I tend to agree with Lyotard politically. I believe he is attempting to keep
the possibility of radical politics (the sign of history) open in a
post-Marxian (because we are now incredulous of the belief in the
proletariat) world, but I believe the databases are controlled.  Nothing is
real unless it appears on television and that is the whole problem.  We don't
exist.