File spoon-archives/lyotard.archive/lyotard_2004/lyotard.0402, message 7


From: "Eric" <ericandmary-AT-earthlink.net>
Subject: RE: Discours Figure
Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2004 22:31:10 -0600


Steve wrote:


I surmise then that we are in agreement that the Kantian turn has the 
unfortunate side effect of seeming to be unable to address the very 
areas of work, (esp popular culture) which are most engaged in the
present.

Steve,

We are in agreement to the extent that a screwdriver can function as a
hammer.

Without getting caught in the trap of high and low, I think the
aesthetic and the cultural are quite different categories, just as I
think Lyotard's formulation of the sublime tends to be more ontological
than aesthetic.  

What tends to drive culture today is a contradictory dynamic. On the one
hand, it aspires to art, meaning, gravitas, universal standards of
truth. On the other hand, it needs to discover and exploit viable
consumer markets, usually centered upon youth, that holy grail of the
corporation. It must be commercial and profitable, even as it lifts us
up. 

It claims to enlighten as it grovels to entertain.  The recent Superbowl
afforded us an excellent example of culture in action.  

eric   

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