Re: arguing with the tide

Thanks, Scottie,

The temptation is to joke that you are simply correct on all counts.

Of course, that would be nonsense.

But in this case, it does not seem difficult for me to claim that I have read
more of Derrida's work than anyone else discussing this here, and yes, I'd
even venture to say with greater care, since I see little evidence that anyone
has read very much of his work at all.

I have not nor will I say anything about "profound" understanding or your
little joke concerning "unassailable access to their intentions."

And my degree of "certitude," what there is of it, concerning these
particular matters, comes only from spending a great many years with these specific
texts. I have almost none of it in any other aspect of my work or my life. Ask
around.

When I am at work, I most certainly have no word from any mountain. No
teacher does. It's quite the opposite, in fact. All I do is read texts and
discuss them specifically and formulate my own interpretations of them. And, like
all teachers everywhere, I then present those interpretations (complete with
all the ideology and rhetorics of desire that accompany them), to a class at
some point, always as my own singular readings. I am careful to support those
interpretations with the specific language of the text and request that others,
when they make assertions about those texts or their authors, do the same. If
they are unable to do so, I become suspicious of their original claims.
Teachers who claim to have the Truth, who claim to come to class with external
truth separated from desire and politics and rhetoric and power; teachers who
claim that they are there to present or even "discover" the absolute truth for
the class are in fact liars and con artists. It is they who are the ones filled
with the pretty illusion of an unselfconscious certitude. And they should
not ever be trusted. Ever.

All the best,

--John

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Received on Wed Jul 16 09:20:35 2003