A logos of difference: the Kantian roots of Derrida's deconstructive thinking
- Authors: Hurst, Andrea Margaret
- Date: 1999
- Subjects: Derrida, Jacques -- Philosophy , Deconstruction , Philosophy
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:11003 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1015554
- Description: This study concerns a contemporary articulation of the age-old limit/possibility (truth/scepticism) contest in Western metaphysics. Traditional `either/or' logic advises that scepticism is a necessary consequence of the assailability of truth; hence the concerted effort in the history of philosophy to preserve the possibility of truth against any flicker of uncertainty. Here, it is argued that contemporary thinking sees the possibility of `absolute' truth lose its ground. However, a concomitant shift to a `logos of difference' averts the consequence of scepticism. Thus, the justification for this study could be articulated in terms of the imperative, if a cardinal moment in contemporary thought is to be sustained, to understand this shift in logos, work through its implications and learn to live with its effects. In this respect, an attempt is made throughout to situate and interpret Derrida's `deconstructive thinking' as exemplar. Derrida's thinking finds roots (not without signs of insurrection) in Kant's `Copernican revolution,' construed as the first shift towards the contemporary logos in question. Here, Kant refuted the postulate of an independent `world' by demonstrating that `reality' was the result of a cognitive order imposed on what `exists' by the rational subject. Knowledge, therefore, depended not on matching statements with pre-existing `things,' but on knowing the `rules' that determined how an object had to be if it was to be known at all. Kant maintained that certain, objective knowledge was possible, due to the completeness and universality of the forms of intuition and the categories of the understanding. Kant's `Copernican revolution' provided the opening for a second shift inaugurated by the so- called `linguistic turn.' Here, thinkers contested what Kant took for granted; namely that `constitutive interpretations' (cognitions/concepts) formed a `reality' independently of language. The basic premise underpinning the `linguistic turn,' therefore, is that language (signification) and `reality' are inseparable. Henceforth, the possibility of final, enduring `constitutive interpretations' whose `truth,' in principle, is discoverable, depends on whether or not the language which mediates human rationality can form a complete and universal system. This question resurrects the very limit/possibility debate (in the form of a structuralism/postmodernism stand-off) that Kant thought he had resolved in mediating between rationalist and empiricist extremes. In contemporary terms, philosophers who, bound by either/or logic, wish to avoid the sceptical trap of `anything goes' postmodernism, must assume that language (signification) can form a complete and universal system. However, in his deconstructive readings of Husserl, Saussure and `structuralism,' Derrida demonstrates the untenability of this assumption. At the same time, he shows that the sceptical `alternative' may be avoided by recognising the limitations of `either/or' logic. Again, Derrida's thinking may be traced to Kant's; this time to his analysis of the `first antinomy.' In accordance with Kant's analysis here of what is ultimately the logic of `complex systems' (Cilliers), Derrida offers a `logos of difference,' which skirts the strictures of structuralism while avoiding the trap of postmodern scepticism by accommodating both moments of limit and possibility in an indissoluble interplay.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1999
Colonial tales, alter-narratives and the enduring value of anthropology
- Authors: Boswell, Rose
- Subjects: Anthrology , Oral tradition , f-sa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Lectures
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/20989 , vital:29425
- Description: Stories and story-telling are fundamental to human beings. What stories do we choose to tell, hear and relate? From childhood through to adulthood, stories and story-telling provide social content, example, advice, therapy, continuity, connection and entertainment. Story-telling is also a space for hidden resistance, embodiment and the invocation of rank. Accompanied by song and dance, those intangible heritages which must remain dynamic to endure, stories facilitate an aural and oral community that engenders its own understanding of time, place and identity. In anthropology, the study of humanity in all its complexities, there is the collection, collation and retelling of stories for audiences who would otherwise not understand or seek to essentialise those deemed ‗other‘. In this inaugural lecture I focus on the value of stories gathered from anthropological field research in the southwest Indian Ocean Islands. The stories (often constitutive of a multiply-situated self), shed light on the finer details of gendered, ethnic and raced existence in the island communities. They also offer deep insight into the nature and possible ‗evolutions‘ of contemporary societies. Finally, I suggest that alter-narratives, those stories rarely told, provide access not only to multiple worlds, they are part of an aural epistemology which might lead to alternative ways of connecting with others and thereby conceptualising and articulating identity in our contemporary global society.
- Full Text:
Democratization of state institutions and processes: a critical ingredient for good governance
- Authors: Masango, Sebenzile
- Subjects: Democracy -- South Africa , South Africa -- Politics and government , f-sa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Lectures
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/20341 , vital:29265
- Description: In itself ‘democratization’ is a wide field of study which can be subdivided into various subfields. The content of this lecture is mainly derived from the key focus areas of the research I have conducted. My research mainly contributes to the building and strengthening of democracy and good governance.
- Full Text:
Discourse, cinema and desubjectification: from Foucault to Deleuze and beyond.
- Authors: Konik, Adrian
- Subjects: Philosophy , f-sa
- Language: English
- Type: text , article , Lectures
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/31594 , vital:31617
- Description: To be clear, this was not philosophy as a discipline, which like all canonical edifices can come across as weighty, dusty and extremely boring; especially when it rather arrogantly assumes the position of arbiter of truth, and tries to determine what everybody else can or cannot think, or what they should or should not say. Rather, what I encountered again in that Honors-level philosophy module was something that I had glimpsed during my undergraduate studies, but which I had yet to fully appreciate, namely an approach to thinking that was also an approach to life, on the part of certain people who, in their time, had to a large extent philosophized privately as they carried out their many other duties, or philosophized outside of the academy, or remained on the margins of academic philosophy – men like Marcus Aurelius, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Benedictus Spinoza.
- Full Text:
Philosophy as laughter
- Authors: Hurst, Andrea
- Subjects: Laughter -- Philosophy , Philosophy -- Study and teaching , f-sa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Lectures
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/37103 , vital:34106
- Description: Contextualising my current philosophical preoccupations within the framework of my understanding of my task as a philosopher, I engage with the proposition that philosophers have a double task: firstly learning (and teaching) how to think, and relatedly, unexpectedly, learning/teaching how to laugh.
- Full Text:
SEK Mqhayi in the 21st Century: Mzantsi youth ideologies within the African renaissance paradigm for sustainable economic and political development
- Authors: Saule, Ncedile
- Subjects: Pan-Africanism , Mqhayi, S E K , f-sa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Lectures
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/21011 , vital:29427
- Description: I am advancing a celebratory synopsis of Mqhayi, uMzima, uBhomoyi kaCedume at a time when the South African contemporary society is attempting to restructure itself in order to regain lost values before it can successfully and rationally embrace values of other people. In my presentation, I have mindfully taken cognisance of the plight of the so called lost generation, especially among our youth, those who have become strangers in their own land – no language, only misguided and distorted cultural values, no self, distorted history - this of course because of indoctrinations of some psycho-socio-histori-cultural and political imperatives. Strangely enough these are some of the issues that SEK Mqhayi warns us about in his creative works and has made efforts for us to see, but unfortunately no one listened or saw anything. Now that we “have the truth but denied the truth and now that we have the light, but we sit in darkness, Shivering, benighted in the bright noon-day sun,” and now that we are all blind, I think, this evening is the right time to see.
- Full Text:
Self-regulation of the press in South Africa: analysis of selected cases
- Authors: Johaar, Odette
- Subjects: Press -- South Africa , Press and politics -- South Africa -- History -- 20th century , Freedom of the press -- South Africa , Newspapers , Journalism -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:8423 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1019752
- Description: The aim of this study is to present information to members of the South African press, academics in the field of journalism as well as individuals of the South African public who have a keen interest in printed communication in South Africa. The information presented discusses the practice of self-regulation in the South African press, through a study of the Press Council of South Africa (PCSA), the Press Ombudsman and the Press Appeals Panel that is a non-governmental organisation to regulate the press in South Africa. This study will include an analysis of the functions of the Press Ombudsman, the PCSA, the Press Appeals Panel, as well as the role of the constitution of the PSCA and the South African Press Code, which the PCSA uses as a guideline for publications that subscribe to it. Furthermore, a study into the complaints procedure and the determination of the outcome will be done in addition to the sanctions imposed on publications and journalists in breach of the Press Code as well as the acknowledgement given to individuals who have lodged a complaint to the Press Ombudsman, and the article or publication they have complained against had been in breach of the press code. In addition, this study will analyse the outcomes of selected complaints submitted to the PCSA as well as an analysis of submissions made to the PCSA task team and the Press Freedom Commission, an independent commission that was set up to research the regulations of the press. It was found that the PCSA strengthened the system of regulation with the help of the public. It is apparent that the organisation took into account many of the points raised in public submissions. Although the system is self-regulatory it is important to take note that it values and upholds the views of the public. Although though the sanctioning of wayward newspapers was not severe, it had become more defined in the amended code. A point of concern that did not improve over time is the time frame that the Press Ombudsman‟s Office took to resolve the disputes. The delays caused in some disputes were caused by loop holes in the press code and complaints procedure as well as defiant journalists. The PCSA is currently being restructured. As a society changes, the press industry needs to adapt to its needs. This means that the press code will have to constantly be developed to suit society‟s rapidly changing needs. The PCSA has attempted to meet those needs by constantly changing to ensure that the regulatory structure remains relevant.
- Full Text:
Social cohesion: is it possible in a diverse society?
- Authors: Pauw, H C
- Subjects: Social interaction -- South Africa , South Africa -- Social conditions , f-sa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Lectures
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/21914 , vital:29801
- Description: The Faculty of Arts has been requested to drive one of the NMMU research themes, namely "Social cohesion". Being a memeber of the Faculty of Arts and from the School of Governance and Social Sciences I have decided to provide some input regarding this theme. South Africa experienced violent xenophobic attacks on non-South African Africans during May 2008. In a report in The Times (17 June 2008) under the title Mandela calls for 'Social cohesion', former president Nelson Mandela urged the youth of South Africa to work for social cohesion in the country. "The struggle for democracy has never been a matter pursued by one race, class, religious community or gender among South Africans. As future leaders of this country, your challenge is to foster a nation in which all people, irrespective of race, colour, sex, religion or creed, can ascertain a social cohesion fully," (http://www.TheTimes-Mandela calls for 'social cohesion'.htm). My perspective regarding humans is, to paraphrase the late Clyde Kluckhohn, that: Every human is like all other humans, some other humans and no other human.
- Full Text: false
Speaking out : Africa orality and post-colonial preoccupations in selected examples of contemporary performance poetry
- Authors: Mnensa, Mabel Thandeka
- Subjects: Oral interpretation of poetry , Poetry slams , Oral tradition -- Africa , Folk literature -- Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:8455 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1193 , Oral interpretation of poetry , Poetry slams , Oral tradition -- Africa , Folk literature -- Africa
- Description: Contemporary performance poetry is a democratic art form that elicits dialogue and is a catalyst for social change. Yet it is an art form that is still not well understood: it is accused of unconsciously mimicking hip-hop and being a watered-down, lesser version of "real" poetry. However once its power is harnessed it may be a powerful art form that can be used to address social ills and act as a medium for memory work. The themes that are prevalent in contemporary performance poetry illustrate society‘s preoccupations. Different South African and American poets from a wide range of socio-economic, national, generational and racial backgrounds are examined to explore the collective preoccupations that keep emerging in the poetry, issues pertaining to race and class, gender, and to the politics of the past and its effect on the present. There is a long debate around the influences of contemporary performance poetry, which is negotiated in Chapter One. Though Gil Scott-Heron‘s "The Revolution will not be Televised" is identified as being a major influence, Saul Williams‘s "Black Stacey" challenges some of the arguments made by Scott-Heron. Lesego Rampolokeng lays the foundation for South African performance poetry by criticising the new black elite in the country in "Riding the Victim Train". Chapter Two examines how the poets challenge the status quo in their work. Sarah Jones‘s "Blood" illustrates how the new black middle class in America is complicit in keeping poor people on the margins, while Kgafela oa Magogodi levels his criticism against state sanctioned poets in South Africa. Mxolisi Nyezwa‘s "The Man is Gone" illustrates that the new class based hierarchal system in South Africa is potentially harsher than the apartheid one that was based on race. Chapter Three focuses on gender issues that are prevalent in South Africa. Tumi Molekane‘s "Yvonne" illustrates the danger that is embedded in the hetero-normative narrative while oa Magogodi‘s "Samson and deli(e)lah" and Sam‘s "Eve" explore how this narrative is unjustly informed by misinterpretations of the Bible. History and the impact of the past on the present is the focus of Chapter Four. "76" by Molekane illustrates how the apartheid legacy still affects many in South Africa, while Andrea Gibson‘s "Eli" explores the devastating effects of America‘s war efforts in Iraq. Dennis Brutus highlights the cathartic attributes of poetry that is community-driven in "So Neat They Were" and "Mumia". The chapter ends with an exploration of how the form of izibongo is used by Chris Thurman in "Holy City (A Jozi Praise-Poem)". The last poem illustrates how the past informs the present and suggests that despite the bleakness of the past, there is hope for South Africa because of its rich cultural heritage.
- Full Text:
The experiences and coping resources of retirees in a vehicle manufacturing company
- Authors: Cain, Bridgette
- Subjects: Automobile industry workers -- Pensions -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Automobile industry workers -- Retirement -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:16131 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/484 , Automobile industry workers -- Pensions -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Automobile industry workers -- Retirement -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth
- Description: Retirement has different meanings for different people. Retirement represents a significant transitional period in the life cycle of an individual. The aim of the study was to explore and describe the experiences and coping resources of retirees. The researcher applied an exploratory, descriptive research design employing the mixed methods of quantitative and qualitative research to gain an in-depth understanding of the phenomenon. A non-probability purposive sampling method was used to identify participants who retired from a specific vehicle manufacturing company in Port Elizabeth. Semi-structured interviewing techniques and a questionnaire called the Coping Resources Inventory were used for data collection. The rationale for using a mixed method approach was to increase the validity of the research findings. Descriptive statistics and the framework provided by Tesch (in Creswell, 2003) were used in data analysis of quantitative and qualitative data respectively. The results of the Coping Resources Inventory indicated that the participants perceived themselves as having an average level of coping resources. The results from the semi-structured interviews reflected that participants’ retirement experiences are mainly influenced by the following three factors: (a) economic resources, (b) social relationships and (c) personal resources. Recommendations were made for future research and intervention regarding retirement planning. The researcher included suggestions for the implementation of a retirement preparation programme. Lastly the limitations and the value of the study were outlined.
- Full Text: