> One thing that I really am curious about, though, is what people's
>problems are with liberal politics. Because I share Rorty's politics (if you
>were to go issue by issue), I really have no problem with them until I
>consider the sort of cultural imperialism that we've seen in Vietnam,
>Grenada, Panama, Kosovo, etc...
Have you not read any Foucault??? The problem with liberal politics, for him,
are precisely that it rests upon disciplinary frameworks which, despite their
attempts to be secular and post-metaphysical, still hold to religious and
metaphysical ideals of purity and identity. One can still hold to these
values even while recognising the contingency of how we got here, as Rorty
does (and Berlin and most liberals before him). Why do you need to see
Vietnam, Grenada, and the rest to be suspicious: you don't have a problem
with the way liberal society defines criminal delinquency, sexual deviancy,
the unemployed, single mothers, benefits seekers?
>
>Nate
Nathan
Dr. Nathan Widder
Lecturer in Political Theory
University of Exeter
Department of Politics
Amory Building
Rennes Drive
Exeter EX4 4RJ
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)1392 263 183
Fax: +44 (0)1392 263 305
http://www.ex.ac.uk/shipss/politics/staff/widder/
>problems are with liberal politics. Because I share Rorty's politics (if you
>were to go issue by issue), I really have no problem with them until I
>consider the sort of cultural imperialism that we've seen in Vietnam,
>Grenada, Panama, Kosovo, etc...
Have you not read any Foucault??? The problem with liberal politics, for him,
are precisely that it rests upon disciplinary frameworks which, despite their
attempts to be secular and post-metaphysical, still hold to religious and
metaphysical ideals of purity and identity. One can still hold to these
values even while recognising the contingency of how we got here, as Rorty
does (and Berlin and most liberals before him). Why do you need to see
Vietnam, Grenada, and the rest to be suspicious: you don't have a problem
with the way liberal society defines criminal delinquency, sexual deviancy,
the unemployed, single mothers, benefits seekers?
>
>Nate
Nathan
Dr. Nathan Widder
Lecturer in Political Theory
University of Exeter
Department of Politics
Amory Building
Rennes Drive
Exeter EX4 4RJ
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)1392 263 183
Fax: +44 (0)1392 263 305
http://www.ex.ac.uk/shipss/politics/staff/widder/