Re: Bell and the PMC

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AE10000 has written:
>Dr. Alvarado,
>
>Forgive this question if I am being overly obtuse,
>
>Are you stating that postmodernist thought is an emerging system
>of information age false conciousness. Which supports the emergance
>of shadow info-age bourgeois. Further that that the authors of this
>pomo false conciousness seek to create a environment of obscurity in
>discourses of legitiamacy, and thus avert any serious consideration
>of their power.
>

It is not that postmodernist thought falsely conceives of the world, nor
that its authors "seek" (i.e. intend) anything like an "environment of
obscurity," but simply that the social consequences of their ideas are
not adequately considered by them, and that one of those consequences
may be to undermine the possibility of what I have called a shared
discourse of legitimacy. I have not done the research to support the
claim, but it appears at least plausible. It also seems that the most
useful way to judge such work is in terms of social consequences; one should
be acountable for one's ideas, especially when they form part of a
dominant school of thought. This pragmatic criterion--and I do not mean
to ally myself with Rorty by this phrasing--seems basic to any attempt
to determine to value of a particular school of thought, particularly
when such notions as power and authority are treated.

--

R.C. Alvarado                           rca2t@Virginia.EDU

Department of Anthropology              rca2t@Virginia.BITNET

University of Virginia                  uunet!virginia!rca2t

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