[MD] Radical empiricism and the anti-empiricism of postmodern radicals

[Matt Kundert]

DMB,

DMB said:
Let me give you an example. Keith Jenkins' "Re-thinking History" was among 
the readings assigned last week. He tells us that, in the light of what 
Rorty and Foucault say, history "is anything you want it to be" (13). 
Following his neopragmatic pal Rorty, he says, "we are incapable of 
accessing the phenomenal world" and that there is "a similar separation 
between the phenomenal past and discursive history" (36). The past and 
history, "float free of each other"(7). Jenkins says we can escape this 
"hapless relativism" (30) by using history to deconstruct the power 
structures of society until we get down to a "general recognition of how 
things seem to work" (31). But this is just an example and it seems that the 
general thrust of postmodernity is an application of this relativistic 
anti-epistemology to the Humanities in general. The paralysis that dominates 
social thought today, I think, can be traced back to this post-positivist, 
anti-epistemological starting point. Jenkins' use of it with respect to the 
theory of history is just one specific example of what the larger movement 
is doing.

Matt:
I don't know who Jenkins is, but I guarantee that if I were in your class, 
I'd be groaning and throwing up just as much as I'm guessing you are, if not 
more because he's devilishly aligning himself with people I find quite 
respectable and level-headed.

If you want to get "moral paralysis" to stick, you have to say more about 
what it looks like.  What is an indication of moral paralysis?  Is it a 
practical outcome from a theoretical orientation, such as not voting as a 
consequence of one's "post-modern" views?  How does one's post-modern 
philosophical views lead to morally paralytic behavior, and where are there 
manifestations of this behavior?  I don't think its enough to deal with the 
theory, I think you need to connect the theoria to the praxis.

Matt

_________________________________________________________________
Try the next generation of search with Windows Live Search today!  
http://imagine-windowslive.com/minisites/searchlaunch/?locale=en-us&source=hmtagline