Steve Shaviro kindly posted a summary of and comments on a talk by Michael Hardt. I agree with Steve’s criticisms completely though I disagree with Steve on issues with regard to real vs formal subsumption. I’m not going to get into that now but here a few other thoughts on the Hardt talk as summarized by Steve. (more…)
March 16, 2009
… did Hardt have to say?
… are the limits to egalitarianism?
I had a thought today about egalitarianism and democracy with regard to Ranciere on this stuff. Ranciere argues, rightly, that we should be intellectually egalitarian: no minds are better than others, there are no permanent or inherent differences in kind among people that justify inegalitarian political arrangements. (more…)
March 15, 2009
… is my problem?
A lamentable turn to lamentation characterizes many a blog post here, as at least one reader has noticed (the one typing this), tied to a turn toward quips. This was partly due to general unhappiness in my life. Happily I have had good personal news to report and am over all really quite good. With that happy result I’ve realized that the bumps in my life occurred around the same time as the bumps in the blog but their at best approximate simultaneity did not attest to an important causal relationship but was only coincidental. Feeling better I now see the issue with the blog has been simply a matter of itching and scratching. What used to satisfy no longer does but the inclination toward satisfaction remains. Said satisfaction missing, is, to be specific, a matter of the link between political aspiration and intellectual practice. That is, the itch needing scratched resulted from a combination of two separate needs, maybe three. I have a sort of moral need related to my political views, an intellectual need, and a need to have the two be linked. This is a tall order. At one point this blog focused on material which satisfied that duo or trio of needs. Much of that material no longer satisfies but I insist that such satisfaction can be had, particularly now that I’ve gotten clear on what the disconnect was. There will no doubt be further disconnects, learning curves and the like, but I remain convinced that this problem, now known, will prove solvable.
To the Emerald City, comrades!
Rest in peace, Gra.
I just found out that Dave Graham passed away. I didn’t know Gra well but he was one of several older generous comrades I was lucky to meet at a young age. He always struck me as intellectually generous and I was better off for knowing him. I’m sad and sorry to hear he’s gone. My condolences to his loved ones.
More info here.
… does Ranciere say?
(Via, with thanks to Negatron.)
The Nights of Labor Revisited
Jacques Ranciere
Preface to the Hindi edition of The Nights of Labor: the workers’ dream in 19th century France. Trans. Abhay Dube. English Trans. Rana Dasgupta . To be published by Sarai
(more…)
March 13, 2009
Fuck this.
Got a tip on this from a friend. From the Guardian -
the Slovenian philosopher and writer, Slavoj Zizek, has emphasised that the purpose of [an upcoming conference] is not to “deal with practico-political questions of how to analyse the latest economic, political, and military troubles, or how to organise a new political movement”. He added: “more radical questioning is needed today – this is a meeting of philosophers who will deal with communism as a philosophical concept, advocating a precise and strong thesis: from Plato onwards, communism is the only political idea worthy of a philosopher.”
Regarding this -
French philosopher, Alain Badiou, author of the recent book on the French president, The Meaning of Sarkozy (…) “The communist hypothesis remains the good one, I do not see any other,” said Badiou, in his foreword to the conference programme. “If we have to abandon this hypothesis, then it is no longer worth doing anything at all in the field of collective action. Without the horizon of communism, without this idea, there is nothing in the historical and political becoming of any interest to a philosopher. Let everyone bother about his own affairs, and let us stop talking about it… what is imposed on us as a task, even as a philosophical obligation, is to help a new mode of existence of the hypothesis to deploy itself.”
Yes. But what sort of help, decided up on in what matter, and the efficacy of which shall be evaluated how?
… does this piece of writing need?
I’ve had this sitting around for a while, it’s a piece on workplace organizing and diversity, in three parts. The first two are the most finished but they could still use some work. The last one is just a note. I also notes for a thing on doing targeted organizing based on demographic concerns, workplace organizing as strategy for diversification, I’m not posting that but would be happy to send it to people who email me. Any feedback is super welcome.
March 10, 2009
… DO YOU CALL PEOPLE WHO WRITE LIKE THIS?
IF YOU KNOW THEN YOU HAVE THE ANSWER TO #20 ACROSS IN THE CROSSWORD ON PAGE SIX HERE! (A friend and I wrote that, it was fun, we need to buy some better puzzle making software though.)