File spoon-archives/lyotard.archive/lyotard_2003/lyotard.0311, message 64


Date: Fri, 14 Nov 2003 18:10:02 -0500
From: hbone <hbone-AT-optonline.net>
Subject: Re: what is philosophy and this list for ?


Eric, Steve/All,

Eric, I agree it is difficult to sustain an in-depth discussion, and, for
you,  Steve, current activism seems more important than details of Lyotard's
philosophy.   We all have particular interests, voices, projects.  New
voices appear, old voices are silent then re-appear.  I was always
interested in Eric's pursuit of Epicurus and the sublime.  Following Glen's
recent post, I hope we all make the most of great moments, whenver and
whereever they arrive.  Arrive-t-il?

All seek authority/legitimization.  My own curiousity about "consciousness"
has been superseded by a desire for a better understanding of
"intelligence", Divine, Artificial, or Natural, as in DNA and morphology, or
perhaps something else we don't have the wits to perceive..

>From Lyotard and our mutual discussions I have learned a great deal about
how language and belief systems encompass our ability to think, discover and
analyze ideas of nature, self and society.

I guess that's my answer to Steve's question about what philosophy and this
List is for.

Optimistically,
Hugh

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


----- Original Message -----
From: "Eric" <ericandmary-AT-earthlink.net>
To: <lyotard-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu>
Sent: Friday, November 14, 2003 8:50 AM
Subject: RE: what is philosophy and this list for ?


> Hugh,
>
> That posting was sent by me in happier days perhaps when I still
> believed in the Lyotard list and thought it was possible to have a
> meaningful group discussion about him. There have certainly been
> moments, but things never really turned out the way I expected they
> might. The hoped-for discussions never really materialized. I have seen
> similar situations in other groups as well.
>
> I was never one to believe the internet meant the virtual flowering of
> democracy in the so-called new economy, but I thought at least it might
> offer a way for people outside the academic community to take part in
> meaningful philosophical discussions. Now I'm not so sure. Today the
> internet seems much closer to Wal-Mart than to the Greek agora.
>
> I would still stand by that piece, however, and add the following quote
> to it, taken from Lyotard's essay 'The Survivor'.
>
> "the "law" of development finds both a means and a mask even more
> powerful (because more acceptable to "philistines")than totalitarian
> organization. Crude propaganda is discreet in democratic forms: it gives
> way to the inoffensive rhetoric of the media. And worldwide expansion
> occurs not through war, but through technological, scientific, and
> economic competition. The historical names for this Mr. Nice Guy
> totalitarianism are no longer Stalingrad or Normandy (much less
> Auschwitz), but Wall Street's Dow Jones Average and the Tokyo's Nikkei
> Index."
>
> I still find those words as chilling as they are true. Though one could
> certainly argue that our current military adventure in Iraq proves that
> war is still part of the equation, it is hard to deny the argument that
> capitalism, especially in the fundamentalist version of American
> exceptionalism, has become the new form of totalitarianism.  To
> paraphrase Orwell, it is a little like a Nike running shoe stomping on a
> human face.
>
> The list offers little solace for coping with this situation and I guess
> I wonder at times why we even bother to continue the pretense. It does
> seem at times like a very lonely adventure.
>
> eric
>
>
>
> ---
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