Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2000 12:57:20 -0600
Subject: Re: HAB: Third rock from the Sun


I am particularly interested in the Matthew's question about
institutions.

matthew piscioneri wrote:

> The eternal dialectic of a ... species' conversation ...

> What's an institution?

To respond, briefly, and in a telegraphic style:

I propose that an "eternal dialectic" is, by definition, a
transcendental dialectic; the "dialectic of a specie's conversation", on
the other hand, can only be quasi transcendental, which is to say only
virtually transcendental, or 'as if' transcendental.  This quasi
transcendental quality of conversations and other human institutions
(since this is the species in question, and the only species in
question) derives from the nature of humans and their institutions.

An institution is a type of human construction that enables us to
transcend the here and now.  This transcendence is, however, always only
a quasi transcendence.  We always remain anchored in the present--in the
Lifeworld (which we might reconstruct as the history of the effects of
our communicative capacities).  We can never live fully in another place
or time--not even in the future.  To ignore this constraint on our
capacity to transcend our limits is to succumb to false consciousness.

I'm currently engaged in a systematic reading of the "Habermas-Gadamer
debate," so you may hear echoes of that reading here.

Bill Hord
Houston, TX


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