Date: Thu, 4 Dec 1997 23:32:32 EST
Subject: Re: Rights and Wrongs and Loss of Time


Hugh

Granted, not everything I wrote in my last post concerning time management was
directly taken from the Differend.  I did, however, use the argument from that
book as my jumping off point.  Thus I disagree with you when you say hardly
any of it came from the Differend.

You make a number of sociological assessments in your post.  I would agree
with you that, as Lyotard himself argued at the end of the Differend, the
world does not appear to be getting better. 

I do think you are getting ahead of the discussion, however.  In order to
right the wrongs, perhaps it is necessary to first find the time to think.
There is a philosophical task that is also necessary for justice to be done.

Now Lyotard may be right or may be wrong, but I don't think this question is
merely an academic or biographical one.  We must first determine what is being
said before we can judge its relevance to the situation.

Without going into all the details tonight, I would argue there is a
singularity running through the many Lyotards, a topic if you will, regarding
time and memory.  There is evidence of it in The Libinal Economy, The
Postmodern Condition, The Differend, Heidegger & the jews, and The Inhuman, to
mention only a few books.

What is being said about time in relation to capital? to the "cosmic" process
of complexification that is occurring? to the new modes of legitimizing power
and truth? How is the memory of what cannot be remembered and what cannot be
forgotten possible?

These are all questions I think this group should be discussing before we
judge him irrelevant to the question of justice.  That is what I am attempting
here; to bear witness to the differend that bears the name of Lyotard.

Is it possible to discuss what is being said on this topic throughtout the
various books? What is the relation of time to capital and complexification
that Lyotard discusses?