From: antonio callari (antonio.callari@FANDM.EDU)
Date: Fri Nov 12 2004 - 15:13:09 EST
I am both an althusserian and someone who likes derrida, and I do think there is something to what derrrida said about althusserianism in its theoreticism moments, although I think that althusser, in his later years, moved much closer to the type of concerns that Derrida is expressing here (his--Althusser's--increasing attention to the process of historical change opens vistas quite different from the vistas opened by the attention to structures; and, by the way, I think that Wolff and Resnick's attention to '"overdetermination" sits felicitously just right at the intersection of structure and change). Antonio > > I don't have my own copy of this book. But I think this interview is >> in the Althusserian Legacy, ed. Michael Sprinker and E.Ann Kaplan. > >Rakesh, > >Thanks. You pointed me in the right direction: >http://wwwmcc.murdoch.edu.au/ReadingRoom/7.2/McHoul.html > >This review gives the citation and it comes from an article/ >interview called "Politics and Friendship." Regarding Althusserian >Marxists, Derrida commented: > >"there was, let's say, a sort of theoretical intimidation: to formulate >questions in style that appeared, shall we say, phenomenological, >transcendental or ontological was immediately considered >suspicious, backward, idealistic, even reactionary." > >McHoul summarizes Derrida as saying "In particular Derrida >argues that Althusser's critique of historicism moves on too >quickly, refusing to engage with 'the history of the meaning of >being of which Heidegger speaks' (193) and this, Derrida goes >on, is the ultimate reason why Marxism in France was >washed up by the early 1970s -- too simplistic a theory of being, >hence too simplistic a conception of science and what would >constitute 'real' politics. Particularly shaky was its party >manifestation -- the PCF. 'The two alternatives were: either it >hardened and lost out or else it softened and blended with the >Socialist Party and there would be no more need for it.' (211)". > >Derrida also commented: "Marxist discourse at the time, including >its Althusserian branch, was incapable of analysing the socio-political- >economic reality of that time and regulating its practice based on >that analysis." [More can be found at the above site.] > >Are these fair criticisms by Derrida of Althusser and Althusserians? > >In solidarity, Jerry -- Antonio Callari Sigmund M. and Mary B. Hyman Professor of Economics F&M Local Economy Center P.O. Box 3003 713 College Avenue Lancaster PA 17604-3003 e-mail: acallari@fandm.edu phone: (717) 291-3947 FAX: (717) 291-4369
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