Hello Ray and All! Oddly enough, I happen to currently be reading Sartre's "Search for a Method." My reading is that he is engaged in a polemic with the structural Marxists on the nature of dialectics. Not just giving attention to macro trends, but also, presciently, human agency.
My favourite passage, so far, his assertion of what Existentialism is about: "It intends, without being unfaithful to Marxist principles, to find mediations which allow the individual concrete - the particular life, the real and dated conflict, the person - to emerge from the background of the 'general' contradictions of productive forces and relations of production." [p. 57] A nice counter to the technical rationality that underpins a lot of the social sciences, I thought. Bob ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ray Evans Harrell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Brad McCormick" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, July 28, 2003 1:12 PM Subject: Re: Sartre -- Re: [Futurework] Cultural Contradictions of Capita lism > Also when people are talking about the French not doing much, they obviously > haven't worked with Foucault or Boulez. The comments about French films are > beyond ridiculous. I've seen nothing comparably coming out of any other > country the size of Oklahoma with roughly the same population as the UK. > "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" Or is it just that people don't > speak or read French much? Music is easier and French films are > plentiful. To refuse to know does not give one the right to judge. I > don't get along with the French but even I am a grudging admirer. Keep > it up Brad. There is a lot of Gold in them thar hills. > > REH > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Brad McCormick" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Cc: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Monday, July 28, 2003 12:49 PM > Subject: RE: Sartre -- Re: [Futurework] Cultural Contradictions of Capita > lism > > > > Quoting "" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > > > > > I often quote Ellul (possibly incorrectly) when he noted that "trend is > > > not > > > destiny..." to which I add but it is worth looking at trends > > > nonetheless. > > > > This plausibly sounds like Ellul could have said it, > > although it's not very uniquely "Ellul". > > > > This fits in nicely with Sartre's notion that to not choose is to > > choose. Trend information tells "you" what "you" are > > likely acquiescing to if "you" "don't choose" (i.e., > > if "you" choose "not to lift a finger"). > > > > Trend information > > says "If 'you' do nothing about it, this is what's > > likely to happen. But, if 'you' do > > choose to intervene, here are > > the best guess estimates of the chances of changing > > what will happen to be [whatever alternative]". So > > trend information also helps inform choices to act, > > as well as showing the real meaning of what is > > obfuscatingly called "not choosing". > > > > Of course, creative insight sometimes enables a > > person to intervene in a situation in a way > > that could not have been trend-projected, since > > nobody knew about the alternative until the > > person innovated it. And/or creative insight may show > > that the trend projections are wrong because they do > > not take account of some previously unsuspected > > factor.... > > > > \brad mccormick > > > > -- > > Let your light so shine before men, > > that they may see your good works.... (Matt 5:16) > > > > Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes 5:21) > > > > <![%THINK;[SGML+APL]]> Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > > Visit my website ==> http://www.users.cloud9.net/~bradmcc/ > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Futurework mailing list > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework > > _______________________________________________ > Futurework mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
