Understanding Poststructuralism (Understanding Movements in Modern Thought) Review

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Understanding Poststructuralism (Understanding Movements in Modern Thought) ReviewThrough Williams' exposition (perhaps better, geneology) of a number of important post-structuralist writings, the author italicizes key statements that students might jot down and return to in times of introspection. These passages, as well as his numerous study questions and his guide for further reading, make this text essential reading for those curious about the origins of post-structural thought, its essential theorists, and its political import. That is to say, for all those confounded undergraduates and armchair theorists, Williams provides an excellent introduction and overview to a school of thought whose proponents write from as divergent academic viewpoints as possible.
Throughout, his prose engages the reader and builds an argument for the importance of post-structural thought amongst multiple disciplines, including philosophy, history, geography, economics, feminism, subaltern studies, sociology and anthropology - all the while critically engaging many oppositional voices that often arise in response to post-structural critical encounters with enlightenment (and other) philosophy. Williams' text does not give short thrift to those (humanists, marxists, etc) that aren't aligned with post-structuralism. Instead, he provides counter arguments which allow the reader to make their own decisions concerning his and others' theories. Finally, Williams makes explicit the politics of post-structuralism. To this reader, his emphasis upon post-structuralism as a political movement is a welcome addition to an impressive excavation of the works of Kristeva, Lyotard, Deleuze, Foucault and Derrida.
In addition to the study questions and further reading sections mentioned above, the text also includes a timeline which highlights important post-structural texts and events, and which aids the reader in constructing an evolutionary vision of an extremely important, yet just as fractured, politico-theoretical project. Highly recommended reading.Understanding Poststructuralism (Understanding Movements in Modern Thought) OverviewUnderstanding Poststructuralism presents a lucid guide to some of the most exciting and controversial ideas in contemporary thought. This is the first introduction to poststructuralism through its major theorists - Derrida, Deleuze, Foucault, Lyotard, Kristeva - and their central texts. Each chapter takes the reader through a key text, providing detailed summaries of the main points of each and a critical and detailed analysis of their central arguments. Ideas are clearly explained in terms of their value to both critical thinking and to contemporary issues. Criticisms of poststructuralism are also assessed. The aim throughout is to illuminate the main methods of poststructuralism - deconstruction, libidinal economics, genealogy and transcendental empiricism - in context. A balanced and up-to-date assessment of poststructuralism, the book presents the ideal introduction to this most revolutionary of philosophies.

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Beyond All Reason: The Radical Assault on Truth in American Law Review

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Beyond All Reason: The Radical Assault on Truth in American Law ReviewFor the last few years, I've been intrigued by educated people, not trendy 19 year olds from whom you'd expect such behavior but older people, with as many letters after their names as in them, being enamored by the "New Age." Tarot cards, I Ching, UFOs, you name it. This "age" is not really "new." Nor is it, obviously, the abode of the less educated. Psycho pioneer Carl Jung was a true believer, and, as I've indicated, there seems to be more of the educated than less educated who subscribe to the practices today. But in the late 20th century, a time in which our intellectual know-how has brought about some remarkable achievements, one would hope that asking "What is your sign?" might be a mere reminiscence.
Well, after reading volumes to try to understand what attracts people to such foolishness, I've run across a few volumes that expose where this New Age anti-intellectualism has crossed paths with politics and law. This is one of those volumes.
No, I'm !not suggesting that the "radical multiculturalists" are advocating astrology. ("You are a Virgo, so less inclined to misogyny or racism.") But they are--and quite rabidly--anti-intellectual, or, as the authors call them, anti-Enlightenment. You see, reason and objectivity, these "radicals" say, are the patterns--or hangups?--of us white, male oppressors.
The authors, law professors, introduce the book well. For example, they start by saying they're not claiming that, "We're bigger victims than you are." They set a base for their arguments, which are many and powerful. They examine a history of radical multiculturalists whom they distinguish from their predecessors, e.g., Michel Foucault and, later, the Critical Legal Studies (CLS) "scholars." However, I fear they excuse some of the radicals, saying that their intent is not to trash them, then go on to offer examples of how they're truly trashable!
The authors describe how the radicals have given up any concept of! legal reasoning for storytelling. Unfortunately, like the stories of Ronald Reagan, whom the radicals would claim to despise, their stories are most often not true. Indeed, one of the authors tells a story about her childhood. She starts by saying that everything in the story is true, then tells the story. She then tells the same story with details nuanced differently, different contexts and shades. The story has dramatically different results. That narrative approach reminds me of some of the stories of the "successful" who talk about how they "made it" despite the overwhelming odds; when the truth is told, the odds were, contrary to the author's mythology, dramatically in favor of them, or at least much less against them than they'd claimed. That approach, elaborating on the inherent fallacies of storytelling, is valuable.
The book gets a little dry in later chapters, and a little difficult to follow. Earlier it reminds me of Alan Sokal and his parody of social theor!ists: it actually quotes those radical multiculturalists, among them that Josef(ine?) Goebbels of feminism, Cathrine McKinnon. I say "actually" because the quotes are examples of hyperbole and and gross intellectual negligence, volatile and divisive. On the one hand I reject what these "radicals" say. On the other hand I can understand why they say it: They become the gurus of a "movement." Since reason, again, the bias of white males, plays virtually no part in their statements and conclusions--which I would have expected from spokespersons from the far Right--they can say whatever they like, and have an audience cheering and fueling their egos. It's demagoguery in its lowest form, from the highest of ivory towers. And, like their far Right compatriots, they're immune from context, history, facts, and critical thinking.
I guess what truly astonishes me about these "radicals" is that they don't see their own irony. The civil rights movement sought equality; the failed E!qual Rights Amendment did the same, hence its name. But the "radicals" are very tribal: Blacks and nonblacks can't truly communicate as they're too different. Women and men can't truly communicate as their cultures are just too distinct. So much for equality! Who's racist? Who's sexist?
Further, the radicals' rhetoric ultimately endorses a police state. If we humans, particularly we white males, are virtually uncurable, then I guess it's the state's responsibility to control us, and to entitle the traditional victims with special treatment at the expense of the traditional victimizers. Oh, and merit is trash, another subjective commodity designed to keep "us" white males in power. So when I need an attorney to defend me against an outrageous charge, I guess I should seek a minority lawyer who really knows what such charges are like, rather than one whose race or sex means less to me than his or her qualities--and qualifications--as an individual.Is it any wo!nder that many whites AND even truly scholarly minorities and women are tired of their motives, and their intelligence being challenged by these demagogues?
As to the radicals' effects on law students, I hope the students who buy their rhetoric stick to writing diatribes and not head to the courtroom where they'll pull race and sex cards, and litigate every perceived wrongdoing until law as a profession becomes even less credible than it is now.
Finally, I hope this book is read by those inclined to want to solve racial and social problems, and who wonder why the problems seem to be getting worse. Maybe then, future reader, you can begin to understand and do something about identity politics.Beyond All Reason: The Radical Assault on Truth in American Law Overview

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