Long Sunday

Deleuze and Guatarri on the national state and human rights

In a discussion of Deleuze and Guatarri's notion of the concept in What is philosophy?, one of the commentators points to p. 107 of that book where 'communication' is discussed. Starting with 106, the authors write:

If there is no universal democratic State, despite German philosophy's dream of foundation, it is because the market is the only thing that is universal in capitalism. In contrast with the ancient empires that carried out transcendent overcodings, capitalism functions as an immanent axiomatic of decoded flows (of money, labor, products). National States are no longer paradigms of overcoding but constitute the "models of realization" of this immanent axiomatic . . . .

barely polite insults

Richard Wolin, writing a review of Paras's _Foucault 2.0_ for the Chronicle of Higher Education writes:

"One wonders how long it will take Foucault's North American acolytes to reorient themselves in light of Paras's impressive findings."

'acolyte' is meant to be dismissive, in an academic and barely polite sort of way, correct? And seeing this made me think: What other terms can be used to say that the followers or users of so-and-so's thought are idiots, without using the word 'idiot' or something similar?

The only other one I can think of right now is 'adept.' Here are the definitions:

acolyte
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French & Medieval Latin; Anglo-French, acolit, from Medieval Latin acoluthus, from Middle Greek akolouthos, from Greek, adjective, following, from a-, ha- together (akin to Greek homos same) + keleuthos path
Date: 14th century
1 : one who assists a member of the clergy in a liturgical service by performing minor duties
2 : one who attends or assists: FOLLOWER

adept
Function: noun
Etymology: New Latin adeptus alchemist who has attained the knowledge of how to change base metals into gold, from Latin, past participle of adipisci to attain, from ad- + apisci to reach  -- more at APT
Date: 1709
: a highly skilled or well-trained individual: expert  <an adept at chess>

Can anyone think of other terms for 'follower' that not-so-subtly communicate a writer's distaste? Of the two above, which do you think is the more dismissive, acolyte or adept?

Machiavellian

There are, at the very least, two ongoing major tragedies in English-language social and political theory: the non-translation of Carl Schmitt's Die Diktatur and the non-translation of Claude Lefort's Le Travail de L'Oeuvre Machiavel. While the non-translation of Schmitt is inexcusable (it's a pampthlet, it's an essential work and, yet, somehow we have two translations of "Theory of the Partisan" published in the same year), the non-translation of Lefort's book is understandable: Machiavelli studies is an already bloated field and, like most bloated fields, it is filled with negligible and unimportant works - one hardly, on first impressions, requires yet another book. And, of course, Lefort's book is seven hundred seventy eight pages long.

While I have some reservations with Bernard Flynn's recently published The Philosophy of Claude Lefort: Interpreting the Political, it is the only book on Lefort in English, it is a moderately able introduction to his work, and it contains the single, most detailed discussion of Lefort's book on Machiavelli in English (the first three chapters are on that book).  The final chapter about Machiavelli, on Lefort's theory of interpretation and reading, ends as follows:

Freedom? No, thanks!

A commonplace in some left intellectual circles is that freedom is nothing but the freedom of the market. That is to say, when the term freedom is used by American politicians, it really means the freedom of corporations and their investors to enter into an area and exploit it in every way they can. Elaborations on the same theme tend to emphasize free choice in terms of consumer goods or free choice in elections, again, between candidates as different as Coke and Pepsi in comparable (but not quite as creative) ad campaigns.

Of course, there is more to it than this. Over the past five years, Americans have heard a lot about the freedom of our way of life, on the one hand, and the necessity of sacrificing certain liberties in the interests of security, on the other. The willingness to suspend civil liberties might seem to break with the fanatical emphasis on market freedom. But I think it is an extension of the same logic.

Profile uncertain

Well, since Genet has been looking over Long Sunday of late (by which I mean the picture, fleetingly taking the place of the banner graphic above), here is the the short text eventually published as the first piece in Genet’s L’Ennemi Déclaré: Textes et Entretiens:

J.G. seeks, or is searching for, or would like to discover, never to uncover him, the delicious enemy, quite disarmed, whose equilibrium is unstable, profile uncertain, face inadmissible, the enemy broken by a breath of air, the already humiliated slave, ready to throw himself out the window at the least sign, the defeated enemy: blind, deaf, mute. With no arms, no legs, no stomach, no heart, no sex, no head, all told a complete enemy, already bearing all the marks of my bestiality that now need never be used (too lazy anyway). I want the total enemy, with immeasurable and spontaneous hatred for me, but also the subjugated enemy, defeated by me before he even knows me. Not to be reconciled with me, in any case. No friends. Above all, no friends: a declared enemy, but not a tortured one. Clean, faultless. What are his colors? From a green as tender as a cherry to an effervescent violet. His size? Between the two of us, he presents himself to me man to man. No friends. I seek an inadequate enemy, one who comes to capitulate. I will come at him with all that I can muster: whacks, slaps, kicks, I will feed him to starving foxes, make him eat English food, attend the House of Lords, be received at Buckingham Palace, fuck Prince Phillip, and be fucked by him, live for a month in London, dress like me, sleep in place of me, live in place of me: I seek the declared enemy.

Progressive avant-garde?

Something I stumbled across in a bookstore, yesterday, in Asheville.  The absence of any comment–apart, perhaps, from the ambiguous sigh expressing merely, "Ah, but the science of it all"–should not  of course mislead you into assuming only the worst, most simplistic or didactic approval of any of the most obvious potential glosses, naturally.  In other words, all pervasive ironies aside, I just thought it was interesting.  (Certainly a cultural context worthy of attention, in any case, for historians of artistic, creative and political groupings, generally.)

The Fame Motive - New York Times

My friend, Lee, sent me a link to an article in the NYT by Benedict Carey. I wonder if it adds anything to thinking about blogs and why people blog.

Link: The Fame Motive - New York Times.

People with an overriding desire to be widely known to strangers are different from those who primarily covet wealth and influence. Their fame-seeking behavior appears rooted in a desire for social acceptance, a longing for the existential reassurance promised by wide renown.  ...

“It’s like belief in the afterlife in medieval communities, where people couldn’t wait to die and go on to better life,” Dr. Brim said. “That’s how strong it is.”

deleuze and on writing

An interesting discussion of the task of philosophers in Deleuze and Guattari's What is Philosophy? where he gives advice on how to write and what about . . .

Disappeared

This is part one of a trilogy of short films called Disappeared in America - the other two can be watched here.

I answered that I had pretty much lost the habit of analyzing myself

Billmon has a funny post about Bush's sudden, rather unexpected decision to become an Existentialist.  And Jon Stewart's correspondent cuts to the heart of the debate:

"...with [Tony] Snow placing the origins of Existentialism with Sartre and Camus, and Bush arguing the movement's roots were more accurately traceable back to Kierkegaard and Nietzsche." 

Strong opinions on the matter, anyone?  Photoshop contests will write themselves, I guess.  (By the way, if you think our comment threads are junior high, just have a look around sometime.)