File spoon-archives/postanarchism.archive/postanarchism_2003/postanarchism.0306, message 85


Date: Sun, 8 Jun 2003 14:08:33 -0700 (PDT)
From: "J.M. Adams" <ringfingers-AT-yahoo.com>
Subject: Joff: "The Possibility of an Anti-Humanist Anarchism"


The Possibility of an Anti-Humanist Anarchism

by Joff

He who does not wish to speak of Capital should also
be silent about ecology. (Jonathan Bradley)


Introduction
My writing not only contributes to environmental
philosophy for it is a work of environmental
philosophy. Such a work unashamedly operates out of a
radical philosophical tradition. The tradition is
Enlightenment bound and humanist in emphasis. This
tradition begins, for the purposes of this thesis,
with Feuerbach and Marx. Yet, the fetters of the
tradition of `critical criticism' are free enough not
to lead to a constriction of ideas. Thus, the position
of my work is at once experimental and yet `rooted' in
the Enlightenment tradition. It is this curious
in-between or interstitial zone that will be explored.
The equivocation nestles in-between two apparently
irreconcilable structures of thought, namely, the
philosophy of the `totality' and the philosophy of
otherness or `difference'. In questioning the
in-between of the totality and poststructuralism's
(PS) emphasis upon positive difference and the
confrontation between a defence of Enlightenment
humanism and its contemporary erstwhile detractors, an
experimental and `monstrous' thinking emerges. In the
juxtaposition of the `totality' and the `different',
what is sought after is not a forced synthesis or
reconciliation of difference, but a possibilising and
a playfulness. In chartering unknown seas, new
territories uncover generous spaces of experimentation
and thought. This is perhaps the dangerous task of
post-human philosophy: `themanufacture of materials to
harness forces, to think the unthinkable'. In thinking
this peculiar in-between, the metaphor of a
`force-field' of ideas is employed. A force field of
ideas abandons the search for an `extorted'
reconciliation of oppositions (Hegel's will-to-system)
but instead brings into the foreground the
relationality of ideas which at once both attract and
repel. Such a structure is dynamic, fluid and less
rigid than a staid system which demands the
unification of opposites `at any cost'. A defence of
Enlightenment ideals that is historically situated
requires the examination of the concepts of humanism
and naturalism, in order to demonstrate that the `gay'
abandonment of such principles by `postmodern
nihilism' is never fully extricable from the tradition
that is rebelled against. The following points hope to
illuminate the possibility of a `transhuman(t)'
anarchism which is ecologically sensitive, tolerant of
diversity, yet which sees the role of stewardship as
essential for guiding the planet away from imminent
collapse. Deleuze, Guattari, and Foucault are taken as
representatives of the canon of PS and Bookchin's
thinking is taken as representative of green
(anarchist) political philosophy which roots itself in
the humanist and naturalist tradition of the
Enlightenment. First and foremost, by demonstrating
the interrelationship between PS and Bookchin's social
ecology, it will be shown that the incommensurability
argument Bookchin employs is unwarranted and
ungenerous. The incommensurability Bookchin sees
between classical and dialectical logic renders
Bookchin's own observations contradictory.
Incommensurability implies that rational standards are
relative or internal to a tradition or culture or
paradigm in which they are articulated. In this sense
incommensurability implies relativism. Thus, Bookchin
is on slippery ground when he contends that:
Brute facts" are distortions of reality in dialectical
reason because for dialectical reason Being is not an
agglomeration of fixed entities and phenomena.

His defensive claim that analytic logic has no
validity in testing the rationality of dialectical
logic can be turned on his own conjectures and
therefore his argument warrants further reflection. It
is arguable whether such a defensive claim is a
serious defect of social ecology. Furthermore, this
form of argument is now disintegrating given the fact
that the once opposed traditions of `continental' and
`analytical' philosophy are engaging with and merging
into one another. Derrida and Rorty are thinkers who
attempt to bridge the gap between these two approaches
to philosophy. Therefore, notwithstanding Bookchin's
protests, the question of rational dialogue, for those
who have ears to listen, between PS, social and deep
ecology and anarchism ought to be posed. In order to
disclose the interconnections and affinities between
PS, anarchist political philosophy and the possible
fruitful co-optation of them by ecological thought
demands that several centripetal concepts receive
close attention. The concepts of the rhizome and
arborescence, hierarchy, dualism, and becoming will be
assessed in order to think the possibility for a
commensurable discourse between two `apparently'
intransigent rivals. At first glance, it is surprising
that anarchism has demonstrated such a lack of
tolerance towards PS theory. PS explores
indeterminacy, the realm of appearances, freakish
becomings, fragmentation, and positive otherness. In
summa: the celebration of chaos. Anarchism,
etymologically, is a state without order, a stateless
and chaotic state without the State. In celebrating
the social order that emerges in the absence of the
ordering principle of the State, anarchism thus
emphasises creativityand spontaneity. 

(for the rest visit
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/5293/joff.html )

===="The tradition of the oppressed teaches us that the 'state of emergency' in which we live is not the exception but the rule...power no longer has today any form of legitimization other than emergency."  

- Giorgio Agamben, Means Without Ends: Notes on Politics, 1996

For cutting-edge analysis of contemporary war visit http://www.infopeace.org

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