thomas,
two keywords: repetition and responsibility
first, i dont think it helps very much to label what people have to say under
crude banners such as 'pomo' or mo (or poo, or, or); and then to go further and
say 'it's simply a repetition' is, I think, a little simplistic, if not even an
invitation for non-dialogue.
second, the responsibility of the actors. what your question/comment, comes
down to, i guess, is: what's the locus of subjectivity? is responsibility
solely locatable in the human subject? you might call this a 'repetition of the
pomo debate', but in what i've seen so far, in this 'moment of danger, crisis,
apocalypse', is a need for 'remembering', for repetition, if you like, of
discourses that have engaged with a critical analysis of war, violence and
ideology. this repetition is, of course, never just the re-production of the
ever-same. repetition produces difference. maybe critical reasoning needs
repetition. without repetition, no discourse. or is this too totalitarian?
steffen
Thomas Armbruester wrote:
> Steffen,
>
> are we now to repeat the whole pomo discussion on this list?
>
> I don't think that many of the critical community have a serious problem
> with religion, but referring to the attack as response of god would
> de-responsibilize those human beings who have done it. Theological
> speculation is just fine as long as it does not conceptualize human action
> as predetermined and thus deresponsibilizes individuals (yes, a very
> modernist point of view, I know).
>
> I only hope that the Bush administration and its European 'partners' do not
> do anything that will create only more terrorism.
>
> Thomas Armbruester
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Steffen Bohm <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Monday, September 17, 2001 4:31 PM
> Subject: Re: A response from God?
>
> > well, it all depends on who god is seen to be...
> > ken, you seem to have a very clear fixed idea of god....
> > but maybe it's the Other...
> > and what's wrong with theological speculation anyway? if we can't
> > speculate anymore, than we might as well pack in. if we can't hope for
> > the Other, than we are all already dead. and why exactly can't theology
> > not play a role in this speculation? is it because we, as
> > scientists(!!), have gone beyond mysticism?, we, the modern rational
> > beings, have nothing to do anymore with mystic irrationalities??
> > well, maybe the scientific project of modernity is itself some form of
> > mysticism. latour says that fact and belief always exist together.
> > i guess this is maybe an interesting question to those who seem to be
> > very sure about the 'facts', the objectivity, of last week's events.
> > how, in fact, are these facts constructed within a very specific belief
> > system? (what, if capital is god for us 'enlightened' people?)
> > so another way of saying 'What happened is a response from GOD' is to
> > say 'what happened is a response from the Other'. but what we have seen
> > so far is that this Other is approached in very simplistic, dogmatic,
> > 'enlightened' ways. whether the only engagement with the Other's
> > violence should be violence is extremely doubtful. The Other will not go
> > away, only because we will 'smoke them out of their holes' (as G.W.
> > likes to refer to this Other).
> >
> > steffen
> >
> >
> > Ken Friedman wrote:
> >
> > > Has this list become the site of
> > > theological speculation?
> > >
> > > Nyamupachari Vareta seems to
> > > make it so by explaining the week
> > > in terms of divine retribution.
> > >
> > > Vareta writes, "What happened
> > > is a response from GOD."
> > >
> > > Puzzled human beings are struggling
> > > To understand what happened, how,
> > > And possibly why.
> > >
> > > In contrast, Vareta informs us that
> > > God has spoken.
> > >
> > > What are we to make of someone
> > > who announces God's intentions thus?
> > >
> > > "Keep well clear of the fool.
> > > You will not find wise lips there."
> > >
> > > Proverbs 13:7
> > >
> > > --
> > >
> > > Ken Friedman, Ph.D.
> > > Associate Professor
> > > Department of Knowledge Management
> > > Norwegian School of Management
> > >
> > > Visiting Professor
> > > Advanced Research Institute
> > > School of Art and Design
> > > Staffordshire University
|