Re: Future of Europe (Tausch vs Derrida-Habermas)

I agree with your arguments, still I think that too many people speak about 
'pomos' without actually defining the concept - and your definition is also 
problematic, as attempts at deconstructing western metaphysics and getting rid 
of grand theory have been conducted also by the likes of Nietzsche and 
Heidegger...are they 'pomos'? On the other hand, Foucault wanted to get rid of 
grand theory by making and even bigger epistemic theory in 'The Order of 
Things'.  Is he a pomo? He use to hate it when people called him a pomo.  
Actually, in the Archaeology of knowldge, he calls himself a 
positivist...Overall, I am afraid that the term 'pomo' is incresingly becoming 
a cheap and convenient label that is being gratioustly attributed to those who 
we want to dismiss without actually engaging with.  Yet, some of the work of 
the so - called 'pomos' is characterised by deep historical research, extrerme 
care for detail, and yes, even grand generalisations (because, as it were, I 
did read people labelling the work of Foucault as 'pomo').  Your own vision of 
postmodernity is not incoherent with what authors (also dismissed as 'pomos') 
have actually suggested in relation to it.  For instance, Foucault ALWAYS  
RECOGNIZED THAT EPISTEMIC FORMATIONS (such as modernity and post-modernity) 
are caused by MATERIAL configurations of power.  Even Derrida recognizes this.
 I suggest we stop using a word that means nothing: pomo (by the way, when 
Foucault was aked whether he was a pomo, he answered that 'post-modernity is a 
contradiction in terms..he always refused to be categorised as such)

>===== Original Message From Trichur Ganesh <tganesh@stlawu.edu> =====
>   Derrida is a philosopher, a student of Foucault and Althusser at the ENS, 
and
>later an important philospher in his own right.  His best book, in my 
opinion, is
>"Specters of Marx".  Whether or not he is a "pomo" (or whatever) has to do 
with
>how you see his attempts at "deconstructing" the foundations of Western
>metaphysics, and thereby providing some of the grounds for those who were so 
keen
>on doing away with all 'big theory'.  But that was part of the conjuncture of 
the
>late sixties and early seventies.  Since then some powerful critiques of the
>postmodern position have already been launched (I merely repeat what you 
already
>know) by Jameson, Harvey, Eagleton, Anderson, Callinicos, and in 1994, the
>publication of  The Long Twentieth Century brought back into the debates the
>necessity of a long historical perspective to make sense of a shifting 
present.
>Like Jameson, I am inclined to see the condition of postmodernity as 
indicative of
>a deep crisis of representation produced by the shifting  materialities of 
world
>accumulation and the globalized project of neoliberlism.  The current 
conjuncture
>does raise the question of the political, of what is entailed in imagining 
the
>political in the context of the latest rounds of space-time compression, 
'flexible
>accumulation', financial expansion, growing polarization between North and 
South
>and the targeting of the South for renewed primitive accumulation, as well as 
the
>concentration of the weapons of mass destruction in the US. Ganesh.
>
>n0705590 wrote:
>
>> Derrida is not a pomo.  In fact, I would challenge anyone in this forum to
>> come up with a coherent definition of Pomo, as a set of parameters that 
would
>> characterise at least more than  one author.
>>
>> And if you ask me what Postmodernism actually means, I must reply that it
>> means nothing at all, that the term is so meaningless it cannot be used to
>> actally 'label' people
>>
>> >===== Original Message From Andre Gunder Frank <franka@fiu.edu> =====
>> > MY PREJUDICES are pro Taush and anti- Habermas & Derrida to begin with,
>> >and would not ordinarily trouble even to read Habermas.  I know him
>> >poersonally and had only the worst experiences with him - as my boss -
>> >and with Tuh only the best poersonally and otherwise. And as for
>> >Derrida, he comes marked by PO-MO. nough said
>> >agfrank
>> >On
>> >Wed, 18 Jun 2003, Gernot Koehler wrote:
>> >
>> >> Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2003 14:08:42 +0200
>> >> From: Gernot Koehler <gktbg1@tiscali.de>
>> >> To: wsn@csf.colorado.edu
>> >> Subject: Future of Europe (Tausch vs Derrida-Habermas)
>> >>
>> >> Future of Europe (Tausch vs Derrida-Habermas)
>> >>
>> >> The views on the future of Europe expressed by Tausch, on the one hand, 
and
>> >> Derrida and Habermas, on the other, are not necessarily mutually 
exclusive.
>> >> However, the emphases are markedly different. Tausch, as an empirical
>> >> world-system sociologist, looks at socio-economic trends and finds that
>> >> Europe - rather than becoming a hegemonial leader, is stagnating and on 
the
>> >> path of becoming a banana republic (my expression). In contrast, Derrida
>> and
>> >> Habermas, as philosophers, dream  (nothing wrong with dreaming per se) 
of a
>> >> virtuous Europe and its potential good influence in the world along
>> >> liberal-pacifist lines. Both Tausch and Derrida-Habermas see dangers and
>> >> difficulties in the intra-European relationship between West (old EU) 
and
>> >> East (new members of EU), with the old West of Europe being in danger of
>> >> bullying and/or exploiting the East.
>> >>
>> >> HIGHLIGHTS:
>> >>
>> >> (1) Tausch writes:
>> >>
>> >> "Hypothesis 14: . . . Europe, with its huge state sector, its high 
tariff
>> >> walls against foreign competition, and its large scale penetration by
>> >> foreign capital, its slow process of technological innovation, is 
destined
>> >> to become the 'Argentina' of the 21st Century. Also its small future
>> >> population base and rigid migration regime do not qualify it for a rapid
>> >> 21st Century economic growth. There is a great risk that the European 
West
>> >> will treat the newly democratic East as a reservoir of surplus value and
>> >> exploitation."
>> >>
>> >> (2)Derrida and Habermas write [my translation]:
>> >>
>> >> (a) "There must be no separatism within the framework of the future
>> European
>> >> constitution. Leading does not mean excluding. The vanguard core Europe
>> must
>> >> not crystallize into a Small-Europe; it must be the locomotive, as many
>> >> times before."
>> >>
>> >> (b) "Europe must use its weight at the international level and within 
the
>> >> framework of the UN, in order to counterbalance the hegemonial
>> unilateralism
>> >> of the United States."
>> >>
>> >> (c) for "a cosmopolitan order based on international law"
>> >>
>> >> (d) "The success story of the European Union has reinforced the 
conviction
>> >> on the part of Europeans that the domestication of the exercise of state
>> >> power requires also the mutual limitation of sovereign spheres of action 
at
>> >> the global level."
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> REFERENCES
>> >>
>> >> (1) Tausch, Arno, "The European Union. Global Challenge or Global
>> >> Governance? 14 World Systems Hypotheses and Two Scenarios on the future 
of
>> >> the Union." In: Gernot Kohler and Emilio Jose Chaves (Editors)
>> >> "Globalization: Critical Perspectives" Hauppauge, New York: Nova Science
>> >> Publishers, 2003. Other contributions: Samir Amin, Immanuel Wallerstein,
>> >> Christopher K. Chase Dunn, Kimmo Kiljunen, Patrick Bond, Petros 
Haritatos,
>> >> Andre Gunder Frank, Ernesto Gantman, Robert J. S. Ross, Sadik Unay, 
Hardy
>> >> Hanappi, Edeltraud Hanappi-Egger, Emilio J. Chaves, Gernot Kohler. ISBN
>> >> 1-59033-346-2. See: www.amazon.com
>> >>
>> >> (2) Derrida, Jaques,  and J. Habermas, "After the war: The Rebirth of
>> >>  Europe" in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (Germany)_, 31may03 -
>> >> the url for the German text in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung is
>> >>
>> 
http://www.faz.net/s/Rub117C535CDF414415BB243B181B8B60AE/Doc~ECBE3F8FCE2D049
>> >> AE808A3C8DBD3B2763~ATpl~Ecommon~Scontent.html
>> >>
>> >> Respectfully submitted with a disclaimer
>> >> (this short posting cannot do justice to the complex texts
>> >> by the cited authors, but has the purpose of highlighting their 
positions)
>> >>
>> >> Gernot Köhler, Ph.D.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >    
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>> >
>> >               ANDRE    GUNDER      FRANK
>> >
>> >Senior Fellow                                      Residence
>> >World History Center                    One Longfellow Place
>> >Northeastern University                            Apt. 3411
>> >270 Holmes Hall                         Boston, MA 02114 USA
>> >Boston, MA 02115 USA                    Tel:    617-948 2315
>> >Tel: 617 - 373 4060                     Fax:    617-948 2316
>> >Web-page:csf.colorado.edu/agfrank/     e-mail:franka@fiu.edu
>> >
>> >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>>
>> Damian Popolo
>> PhD candidate
>> Newcastle University
>> Department of Politics
>> Room 301

Damian Popolo
PhD candidate
Newcastle University
Department of Politics
Room 301