It seems to me that arguments that turn on the notion of performative
contradiction beg the question against the positions that are their
targets. The idea is that someone -- such as Foucault -- asserts something
about truth, or whatever, and that this assertion contradicts some
proposition, or statement, or sentence, about what this someone does. If
the someone in question denies that anyone does this sort of thing, and
the arguments suppose that they really do it, then the argument begs the
question. Claims about we do are as theory laden as claims about what we
are, if they even constitute distinct and different sorts of claim. L.W.
Beck's "The Actor and the Spectator" is an interesting read in this
regard. In any case, just a thought.
Andrew L. Blais
contradiction beg the question against the positions that are their
targets. The idea is that someone -- such as Foucault -- asserts something
about truth, or whatever, and that this assertion contradicts some
proposition, or statement, or sentence, about what this someone does. If
the someone in question denies that anyone does this sort of thing, and
the arguments suppose that they really do it, then the argument begs the
question. Claims about we do are as theory laden as claims about what we
are, if they even constitute distinct and different sorts of claim. L.W.
Beck's "The Actor and the Spectator" is an interesting read in this
regard. In any case, just a thought.
Andrew L. Blais