Read the full article which is published on Philosophy Bits (external link)When I finish reading a provocative text, I might feel an urge to respond it with a text of my own. I want to communicate my response in words, just as the original text reached me through language. To do this, I interpret the text through the lens of my existing normative understanding and then I craft a new text that better fits with that understanding.
I might claim success if I construct a response so powerful that it logically defeats the argument of the original text. I might even feel a certain happiness in my ability to do this well. But by prioritizing my own text, I also cut myself off from the possibility of learning from the original text.
To learn, I would have to allow the text to operate on me, not merely as an instrument of language and reason, but as a record of human experience. I would have to investigate the experience the text describes and consider whether I might have experienced something similar. I would have to inquire into how the text could still be correct even when it contrasts so strongly with the truth according to my own normative understanding. I would have to question my understanding itself, to see if it really is as robust as it feels to me.
Poststructuralism as a Regime of Truth: Foucault and the Paradox of Philosophical Authority
Foucault’s critique of power and knowledge shaped poststructuralism, yet its rejection of truth risks becoming its own orthodoxy. To remain...
