Thomas E. Bedwell <spirit@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> [...] I am interested in discussing the manner
> in which LANGUAGE helps RULES ground SOCIETY through CONVENTIONS. > Any thoughts?
Although this may not be part of a Witgenstein/Hume thread, here's some thoughts
anyway.
Narrative should be part of this equation. In "Usage des Plaisirs" Foucault talks about
the texts that help to constitute us (the greeks, rather) as sexual beings. In this volume,
certain texts are analysed with a view towards seeing how they contributed to the
constitution of the subject in ancient Greece. The texts, writes Foucault, "served as
functional devices that would enable individuals to question their own conduct, to watch
over and give shape to it, and to shape themselves as ethical subjects." [13]
Foucault was concerned with the "texts written for the purpose of offering rules,
opinions, and advice on how to behave as one should" with respect to sexuality[12]
Texts are the conventions with which society constitutes the rules through language and
how we come to constitute ourselves. Foucault was speaking of very specific texts, in
very specific times but i think that this form of analysis can be widened to incorporate
diverse kinds of texts, including newspaper columns, parlimenatry debates, queer poetry,
medical journals and Star Trek episodes, and everything in between and around these
narratives. I'm using narrative in a fairly large sense. Looking at our contemporary
cultural narratives, the discursive practices that engage us, or simply, the stories we tell
eachother, we may be able to see how they contribute to the constitution of (our) selves.
This is post-structuralist ethics.
Wadda ya think?
daniel goldstein
faculte de theologie
universite de montreal
> [...] I am interested in discussing the manner
> in which LANGUAGE helps RULES ground SOCIETY through CONVENTIONS. > Any thoughts?
Although this may not be part of a Witgenstein/Hume thread, here's some thoughts
anyway.
Narrative should be part of this equation. In "Usage des Plaisirs" Foucault talks about
the texts that help to constitute us (the greeks, rather) as sexual beings. In this volume,
certain texts are analysed with a view towards seeing how they contributed to the
constitution of the subject in ancient Greece. The texts, writes Foucault, "served as
functional devices that would enable individuals to question their own conduct, to watch
over and give shape to it, and to shape themselves as ethical subjects." [13]
Foucault was concerned with the "texts written for the purpose of offering rules,
opinions, and advice on how to behave as one should" with respect to sexuality[12]
Texts are the conventions with which society constitutes the rules through language and
how we come to constitute ourselves. Foucault was speaking of very specific texts, in
very specific times but i think that this form of analysis can be widened to incorporate
diverse kinds of texts, including newspaper columns, parlimenatry debates, queer poetry,
medical journals and Star Trek episodes, and everything in between and around these
narratives. I'm using narrative in a fairly large sense. Looking at our contemporary
cultural narratives, the discursive practices that engage us, or simply, the stories we tell
eachother, we may be able to see how they contribute to the constitution of (our) selves.
This is post-structuralist ethics.
Wadda ya think?
daniel goldstein
faculte de theologie
universite de montreal