At 19:47 11/12/98 +1100, Angela wrote: >hello ajit, > >many of the things you say may well be the case, but a couple of comments: it >seemed to me that 'spectres of marx' was most interesting when it tackled many of >the themes that walter benjamin had tackled; that the notion of surplus value is >not simply - or even most importantly - a notion confined to political economy; >that a discussion of spectrality and haunting in relation to marx does not make a >whole lot of sense without a discussion of surplus value, which is to say, to >detach it from a discussion of surplus value (or, perhaps it may be said in this >context: a discussion of the haunting of capital by labour, for instance) renders >it into a stylistic rather than critical motif. i have no doubt that derrida is >serious, which is why i would think he is more than capable of undertaking a >fuller reading of marx. what interested (and frustrated) me, was that he made a >decision not to delve into the issue of surplus value, which is after all a >central concept for marx, and thus cannot be avoided. _________ I would agree that surplus value is one of the central concepts in Marx. I don't read Derrida's lectures as a definitive work on Marx--I don't think there is even a pretention of this in the lectures. I think Derrida is concentrating more on the idea of revolution and the *promise* of justice and a just society in Marx's writings than the question of exploitation. What I found interesting in his discourse on ghosts is that in some sense it captures the very essence of dialectics. Isn't dialects about a state where both A and not-A coexist? The ghosts are neither dead nor alive. It is a state where dialectics is at home. What do you think? ________ > >i have a good deal of respect for derrida, but i would not say he is a genius. i >find this appellation kind of nauseating to be honest, as it attempts to elevate >his comments beyond critique. it also raises a paradox: if he is a genius, then >surely he could get round to comprehending surplus value before sitting down to >write the book. ___________ I don't use the word genius too often either but if this word has any meaning in English language then it should have some use and application. If we cannot use this word in connection with say Einstein then we better jettison this word to the black hole. In my opinion, geniouses make a lot of mistakes, as Einstein did, and should be criticised most ruthlessly. Cheers, ajit sinha > >i much prefer derrida's writings on levi-strauss and freud. and, as for >deconstruction generally, i much prefer nancy to recent derrida. > >best, > >angela > > >
