Re: text and links some might like to see

OK, then, I'll put it another way.

If I were in Derrida's line of work, I would want to disturb precisely the
people who were disturbed at the thought of Cambridge giving him an honorary
degree and for precisely the reasons they listed.

And the fact that allegedly intelligent readers could actually liken
Derrida's work in any way to the Dadaists stands as just one indication of
why I took so much joy in their objections.

Now I must go.

Bye,

--John

PS: Robbie and Jim: I think if you go back and look carefully at the
specific history of the time, place, debates and publications of all involved
and the surrounding events in academic philosophy -- especially the Habermas
debates that were going on -- you'll see that the entire Cambridge affair was
simply a disciplinary political confrontation. Actually, it had nothing to
do with the "quality" of anyone's scholarship or work or even whether or not
anyone deserved an honorary degree. But I'm not going to reargue what was
even then a total waste of time. A quick look at current anthologies,
histories of philosophy, course listings, and syllabi around the world will
demonstrate the relative position of Derrida and his work in comparison to
the work of those other names so seriously attached to the letter in question
all those years ago.

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Received on Sun Feb 2 08:17:08 2003