Wednesday, 13 October 2010
Leiter Reports A "Derrida Manuscript"
In what must surely count as a low-point in blogging Brian Leiter reported yesterday on Leiter Reports a "discovered" manuscript of Derrida's on Paul De Man which he apparently had forwarded to him by Professor Edward Engelmann of Merrimack College. Now I don't know the work of Professor Engelmann or have any idea what his general view is of Derrida's work but to pass off this idiotic paragraph as a "fragment" of Derrida's is worse than dishonest. The fact that Leiter saw fit to publish it on his blog as a "discovery" led others yesterday to forward it on Twitter as a "genuine" article. Leiter and Engelmann should be ashamed of themselves for this "joke" and perhaps, at a time when humanities generally is under threat, they could find better ways of spending their time.
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8 comments:
Are you serious?
Maybe the humanities are under threat because some branches of the humanities embraced charlatans like Derrida?
If someone misconstrued an entry posted under the category of "philosophical humor" that's hardly my fault.
You should be ashamed of yourself for being such a sanctimonious arse. Really.
It's precisely because you think that it is the activities of people actually engaging in philosophy are the reason why the humanities are under threat that your original posting was so poisonous. It's true it wasn't your fault that it was misconstrued by others but it is your fault that others, like you, think that some forces within the humanities are the reason the humanities are under threat, a view that verges on the ridiculous!
My question was a joke--meant to point out how ridiculous your contrary supposition was (i.e., that making fun of Derrida will make any difference to the fate of the humanities). The problems afflicting the humanities currently have nothing to do with making fun of Derrida or with the fact that there were actual disciplines that took Derrida seriously.
Amazingly I didn't your "joke" Brian: probably because I was trying to get you to see that your focus is currently wrong. It's the supposition in your question that is false even if it is a "joke": the point is this is not the time for such attitudes as you are displaying, it's time to fight the real enemy which is not what you are doing.
You didn't get the joke because, as I said originally, you're a sanctimonious arse. And here's a good example: "it's time to fight the real enemy which is not what you are doing."
Ask the philosophers at King's College, London what I did to help save their department. What exactly have *you* done except bloviate on this blog?
Adieu!
No the reason I didn't get is because, like your original skit, it wasn't funny and, furthermore, given your past history of postings on Derrida I was well aware that your second so-called "joke" expressed your real attitude, not one suited for fighting the present fight at all. If you think the Kings' College business was the real fight you're living in a fool's paradise as far worse is being announced here right now. Perhaps, rather making stupid and childish "jokes" you could get back to dealing with this, as I first suggested.
I read the exchanges between yourself and Brian Leiter first, and only then read the Derrida hoax that Leiter posted: the latter is great fun, and anyone with any wits about them could see straight away that it's a piss-take. It only adds to the fun to know that someone actually has little enough sense of humour to think that posting a sort, and well-aimed piss-take might have contributed to current widespread hostility towards the humanities.
Thanks for your comment Anthony though surprised you thought it worth making to someone who had no "wits about them". We obviously disagree that posting such asinine stuff as Leiter did does anything to help in a situation where all the humanities and philosophy in particular are coming under attack.
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