Yeah, Scottie, you win the JRovira Laugh Out Loud prize for the day :) Part of what Derrida did was invent a language (a vocabulary) to describe language, and you saw it at work in John's post. What bothers me is that Derrida is actively, with an almost messianic vigor (esp. at the opening of Of Grammatology), promoting a specific value system and using his theory of reading and writing to support that value system--without offering a justificaction or an explanation of the value system to begin with--at least not in the few works I've read. Part of it is a secularization of the Judeo-Christian eschatological dream of "all nations" being united as one, there being "neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, slave nor free, you are all one..." as St. Paul put it. Part of it is a (still) further secularization of the Judeo-Christian ethic of concern for the weak, the poor, etc...."I was sick and in prison, and you visited me" in the sense of identifying people groups that are "marginalized" (considered "other" or out of the mainstream--like being Black in the South) and making sure they are given proper status. Healing the lepers, so to speak. This much is more immediately developed out of the existentialists and Marx, but trace the roots far back enough and you come to the same place. It's essentially a substitute for religion with the veneer of intellectualism (genuine intellectualism in Derrida's case). It has all the appeal of an abandonment of tradition and logic while still offering intellectual rigor. I'm not really speaking primarily of Derrida here (whom I respect), but of the many, many, many lesser lights that have gathered around that set of ideas... It's full of shit. Jim On Thu, 10 Dec 1998 20:24:39 +0000 Scottie Bowman <rbowman@indigo.ie> writes: > > I think, John, a small increase in the morning & midday > dosage (say, 25 mgm) might help. > > Scottie B. > > ___________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]