There are two issues here, I think; in terms of pragmatic activity, it can be stifling, which is one reason to cut the theory out or think of it as a posteriori, something like that. The other issue relates human agency to a practical politics as well as issues of justice; Lyotard's differend comes into play.
Which brings up a ploy I've heard repeatedly from bad painting teachers in studio - looking at someone's piece and saying things like "This doesn't work." The painting can't respond, the odd ethos of the thing-slave is silenced, and the teacher isn't talking with the student, just _to_ hir or _at_ hir, as if an unexamined conoisseurship were the concrete order of the day. If the teacher says on the other hand, "This doesn't work _for me,_" - dialog is opened, viewership is deconstructed, etc. I've heard the former far more often. - Alan On Thu, 14 Oct 2010, Curt Cloninger wrote: > I thinkeverything is subject to deconstruction. But then we're back > to ethics and pragmatics (both also admittedly deconstructible). If I > deconstruct the idea of human agency, where does that lead ethically? > Where does it lead artistically (in terms of a pragmatic practice)? > Perhaps it leads to play. > > Here I read Deleuze as a kind of useful structuralist. He allows > Derrida to rule the regime/strata of human language. But human > language doesn't govern the whole show. There are dozens of other > strata (geology, biology, cooking, the human face, etc.) that are > also at play in the world. And any one of these strata could erupt > beyond itself and lead to an entirely new strata. > > Of course Deleuze uses human language to describe this > geophilosophical meta-structure of strata. Of course Derrida could > deconstruct Deleuze's use of language, thus dismantling Deleuze's > entire structuralist system. But, if we start with (or return to) > Deleuze, Derrida remains within the strata of language, playing games > with language, while the strata of geology (for example) continues on > its merry way. > > So, to begin with Delueze is to begin with a kind of hopeful idea > (perhaps deluded?) that humans have agency and can modulate various > strata (within contingent limits). Where might such a world view > pragmatically lead a practicing artist? To begin with Derrida is to > begin with something far more cautious, guarded, rigorous, and > precious (although no less risky -- it risks great caution). Where > might such a "world view" [under erasure] lead a practicing artist? > And what meta-meta-meta-criteria could you ever apply to evaluate > which of these two practices "matters most"? > > > >> This would touch on quantum mechanics, where agency is problematic (and I >> think on a more macroscopic scale as well). Multiple futures only makes >> sense in a multiverse, if they're considered 'actualized' at all, and our >> selves exist within one of course. It gets tricky, but in any case it >> seems to me that agency itself is subject to deconstruction. >> >> (Or not!) >> >> - Alan >> >> On Thu, 14 Oct 2010, Curt Cloninger wrote: >> >>> I think Bergson's virtual is just a specific, rigorous way of >>> thinking about our agency in the present as it relates to the past >>> and the future. Some things in the virtual could happen but may never >>> happen. He's not talking about alternate realities or multiple >>> futures. That seems like we are choosing between a number of already >>> pre-determined paths. Instead, we are moment by moment making (or not >>> making) what will become the past. The virtual isn't even "recognized >>> potential," becauase recognized potential has already become real. >>> >>> >>> >>>> I agree with you here. What is the difference between Bergson's virtual, >>>> though, and the future? >>>> >>>> - Alan >>>> >>>> On Thu, 14 Oct 2010, Curt Cloninger wrote: >>>> >>>>>> For me, all these terms, including 'virtual' and 'real' are rife with >>>>>> problems based on categoricity and ideology - for example following >>>>>> someone like Lingis, I think we're inscribed, that inscription >>>>>> and culture >>>>>> goes all the way up and down, we're permeated, we construct (local) >>>>>> meaning the best we can, we find our way the best we can (sloughing >>>>>> into >>>>>> Wittgenstein or some such). >>>>> >>>>> Hi Alan, >>>>> >>>>> Bergson's "virtual" seems less problematic ideologically, because it >>>>> literally, historically hasn't happened. Once it happens (if it ever >>>>> does), it then gets codified, historicized, analyzed, categorized, >>>>> etc. Until then, who knows how it will fit in ideologically (or what >>>>> it even is)? This could be one argument for letting practice lead. An >>>>> art practice finds its way in dialogue with materials that are >>>>> themselves in dialogue with the world -- a different kind of dialogue >>>>> than philosophy's dialogue with the world. >>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>> NetBehaviour mailing list >>>>> [email protected] >> >>> http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour >>>>> >>>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> == >>>> email archive: http://sondheim.rupamsunyata.org/ >>>> webpage http://www.alansondheim.org >>>> music archive: http://www.espdisk.com/alansondheim/ >>>> == >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> NetBehaviour mailing list >>>> [email protected] >>>> http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> NetBehaviour mailing list >>> [email protected] >>> http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour >>> >>> >> >> >> == >> email archive: http://sondheim.rupamsunyata.org/ >> webpage http://www.alansondheim.org >> music archive: http://www.espdisk.com/alansondheim/ >> == >> _______________________________________________ >> NetBehaviour mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour > > _______________________________________________ > NetBehaviour mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour > > == email archive: http://sondheim.rupamsunyata.org/ webpage http://www.alansondheim.org music archive: http://www.espdisk.com/alansondheim/ == _______________________________________________ NetBehaviour mailing list [email protected] http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
