Well, we can still get minimally satisfactory outcomes even if we
don't have reliable unambiguous communication. For example, suppose
you don't know Japanese and you are in a Japanese restaurant where
they don't speak English. You could point and and wave and gesture and
probably get something to eat even you don't really understand the
menu and the waiters don't perfectly understand what you want.
Or for a different example, which I wouldn't necessarily endorse as
true, but it works as an example... consider the book Men are from
Mars, Women are from Venus. Men and women obviously manage to
communicate well enough in an everyday sense, But in another sense,
there are still some limitations and ambiguities which lead to
communication problems.
I guess I would want want to inject the comment that I'm willing to
believe Derrida and the postmodernists are not morons. So whatever
they mean when talking about the problems of reading a text, it
probably includes our everyday experiences of going out in the world,
talking to people, and receiving what we think of as reasonable
behavioral responses much of the time.
-G
.
On 11/4/07, Ian Kluge <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Dear Gilberto,
>
> How could we know they are "good guesses" i.e. guesses at least somewhat
> close to the truth, if we do not know what the truth is - or even worse, do
> not believe that there is a truth to know in the first place?
>
> All we get here is an endless quagmire to guesses . . .
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Ian Kluge
>
>
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-----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Gilberto Simpson
> Sent: November 4, 2007 9:12 AM
> To: Baha'i Studies
> Subject: Re: Deconstructionism
>
> That problem reminds me of one my favorite movies: Ghost Dog. Some of
> the funniest moments of the film are the exchanges between the main
> character Ghost Dog and his Haitian friend, Raymond who drives an ice
> cream truck. Ghost Dog doesn't speak French. Raymond doesn't speak
> English. But they still manage to get along by making reasonable
> inferences and guesses about what is going on with the other person
> based on context.
>
> So what I would suggest is that even if the deconstructionists are
> right and texts don't have a precise objective meaning, and therefore
> communication is "impossible", it would still be possible for us to
> make some really good guesses.
>
> -G
>
> On 11/4/07, Richard H. Gravelly <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > Indeed! Would not communication of any idea become impossible?
> > Communication requires the offering of an idea and the acceptance of the
> > same idea.
> >
> > Richard.
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Ian Kluge" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > To> According to deconstruction, the text subverts itself, i.e.
> exemplifies
> > > various techniques, metaphors, turns of phrase etc. which undermine what
> > it
> > > apparently seems to say - often to reveal the diametric opposite is also
> > > being said. This undermining/subversion process is infinite and every
> call
> > > to stop it is purely arbitrary.
> > >
> > > If this reading style is applied to the Writings (or any other religious
> > > text), we will soon re-invent the tower of Babel/babble. It would make
> > > organized religion impossible.
> > >
> > > Best wishes,
> > >
> > > Ian Kluge
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> > The information contained in this e-mail and any attachments thereto
> ("e-mail") is sent by the Johnson County Community College ("JCCC") and is
> intended to be confidential and for the use of only the individual or entity
> named above. The information may be protected by federal and state privacy
> and disclosures acts or other legal rules. If the reader of this message is
> not the intended recipient, you are notified that retention, dissemination,
> distribution or copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have
> received this e-mail in error please immediately notify JCCC by email reply
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> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> >
> >
> > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Don Calkins
> > > Sent: November 3, 2007 6:24 PM
> > > To: Baha'i Studies
> > > Subject: RE: Deconstructionism
> > >
> > > At 8:25 PM +0000 11/3/07, firestorm wrote:
> > > >If anything is destroyed in a
> > > >deconstructive reading, it is not the text, but the claim to
> unequivocal
> > > >domination of one mode of signifying over another. A
> > >
> > > Correct. And for some, that includes the elucidations of the House
> > > of Justice, the Central Figures of the Faith and Shoghi Effendi.
> > >
> > > Deconstructionism as a technique has value; but to adopt the
> > > philosophy that *no* interpretation should be privileged over any
> > > other is problematical for a member of the Baha'i Faith.
> > >
> > > Don C
> > >
> > > --
> > > Understood properly, all man's problems are essentially spiritual in
> > nature.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > The information contained in this e-mail and any attachments thereto
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> > >
> > >
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> --
> Gilberto Simpson
> Program Coordinator,
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> 734-709-4921 (cell)
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--
Gilberto Simpson
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Miami Young People's Project
734-709-4921 (cell)
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