Subject: Re: Rights and Wrongs and Loss of Time
Date: Thu, 04 Dec 1997 16:53:25 PST


Hi all

I was intrigued by Hugh's last post re 'righting the wrongs'. It seems 
to me (once, again, as a result of reading Foucault), that this mode of 
resistance and 'change for the better' is problemmatic to say the least.  
The 'liberal' mode of social action is fraught with danger, since the 
activist is as much a part of power regimes as the opressor or the 
oppressed.  I seem to recall someone saying in a previous post that 
there is a temptation to speak on behalf of the silent and in doing so 
prolong their silence - I think this is one part of the danger.

This is precisely where the idea of the differend for me becomes a 
useful tool.  I've only been into this stuff for a short while, but this 
is what I think at the moment.  What Lyotard outlines is one of the ways 
in which language creates inequality.  My question is to what extent 
differends make positive action seriously problemmatic for the 
philosopher.


Jon Roffe

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