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Critique of Pure Reason1:
One class of {its} [reasons] knowledge2- metaphysics o
Metaphysics leads to the highest questions3:
God (the existence of God) Forcing reason to answer/make sense
of the question of God: Ideal of
Pure Reason Self (immortality of the soul)
Forcing reason to answer/make sense of the question of the self:
Paralogism of Pure Reason
World (freedom) Forcing reason to answer/make sense of the
question of the world:
Antinomy of Pure Reason
1 Divided into via negativa and via positiva 2 From the Preface
(A) of the Critique of Pure Reason 3 Cannot be known with
certainty
Hello, student of Postmodernism! Im Ai Shindou and, at the
behest of Ammiel Maestrado, I will try to organize/arrange his
notes in a very student-friendly manner. ^^ Anyway, Postmodernism
has been described as:
Incredulity towards metanarratives (Lyotard) Precursor:
Nietzsche Returns back to the question of truth Indicates that all
in Modernity are interpolations; there are
no such thing as truth; the Sophists were right all along Going
beyond the Modern paradigm
Lets begin with Kant [SailorKant (^^)] Kant, according to
Abulad, is the Father of Postmodernism. Why? It is because of the
Critique of Pure Reason.
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o The Ideal, Paralogism, and Antinomy of Pure Reason are called
Dialectics (illusions; a stalemate), more particularly
Transcendental Dialectics (Things we cannot know)
o Metaphysics cannot stand the Critique of Pure Reason;
re-echoed by Nietzsche (Death of God)
Completed the project of metaphysics. By doing so, also
completed the project of modernity. o Modernity
Deals with the question of science4 5 6; scientific The self is
the foundation of science To make sense of reality, we must go back
to man, the foundation Knowledge is ultimately phenomena (Kant)
Anthropocentric because knowledge can only be human knowledge
Science is ultimately philosophy (Hegel) Kant was seen as its
pinnacle; but was reacted against by the German Idealists
and others (still continuing the project of modernity) A
question of life (Late Modernity)
What can we know: phenomena [Aesthetics (intuition; to perceive)
+ Logic (Understanding)] Divided into two parts, the first is the
critique of knowledge; the second is how to proceed after
the critique7. Kant did something after Modernity. What comes
after Kant is after Modernity. To do Postmodernism is to be
cognizant of Kant. Three Masters of Suspicion: Marx, Freud,
Nietzsche
Husserl
Resuscitated the question of science Started
phenomenology/Father of Phenomenology8 (science of beginnings)
(science of
essences9)
4 Because it is systematic, it must have a foundation. 5 The
social sciences are a product of Positivism. 6 Dialectical
materialism is the true science (Orthodox Marxist). 7 After the
Critique, there must be a rebuilding cognizant of the Critique. 8
Back to the things themselves (concrete).
Kant is reacted by Hegel and Husserl. But lets begin with
Husserl first.
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Returns back to Descartes Last part of Modernity His project10
is to secure and understand the foundation of knowledge
o The most concrete of what is given to us is experience. So he
begins with experience Begins with consciousness11 (cannot be in
the abstract) for his project The property of consciousness is that
it is intentional12 (intentional of something)
o Consciousness is a correlate between the I and the object o
What connects the I and the object is consciousness o Consciousness
does not belong to the world o Consciousness is not determined by
the world
We begin with what is given to us (principle of principles
(originary givenness13)) Phenomenology begins with reflexion (to
think about thinking) We have to open consciousness By examining
consciousness, one has to do a reduction (stepping back from the
world)
o Leads to a transcendental14 standpoint (from withdrawing from
the world15) o What we gather from the transcendental standpoint is
a priori and therefore universal o Transcendental standpoint is
before experience o Transcendental standpoint can make sense of the
ordinary {originary (?)} givenness (?)
epoch16 (suspension of judgment) [necessary in withdrawing from
the world] Everything is given via consciousness Phenomenology17 18
is not psychology19
o Problem of Induction Our experience20 (which is not all the
time) eventually becomes habit, [and] then
becomes fact. A fact being particular is not necessary.
9 Ideas (form(eidos(Wesen))) 10 Epistemological in nature 11
Descartes conceived of consciousness in the abstract. 12
Consciousness is conscious of something. 13 Content of
consciousness 14 a priori 15 By withdrawing [from] the world does
not mean denying the world. 16 Bracketing the world 17 Science of
true beginnings 18 Rigorous (to strip and look at the foundations)
19 Intends to be natural science; attempts to naturalize
consciousness (contingent truths) 20 Particular because it is only
a portion
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The scientific method works on the induction method. Because it
is founded on experience, it cannot arrive at universal truths.
o Psychology is nave (not understanding the basics) Freud
Discovered the unconscious The ego (self) is trapped between the
law (superego) and desire (id)
The withdrawal is supposed to take away the biases
Transcendental standpoint reaches pure consciousness, then to the
pure ego21 (presupposition-
less self). After this one can examine an object in its purest
form To communicate the Intuition of Ideas (Wesenschau (seeing of
Ideas)), one has to speak about it
(phenomenological description) o Wesenschau leads to
apodicticity22 (necessary)
Natural standpoint o Where we begin o Pre-philosophical,
contingent, a posteriori
The ego is freed from its empirical commitments (from reduction)
Any science is now possible because of phenomenology, because
phenomenology is now the
foundation of science He is extending Kant23 (in a sense of
extending phenomena into science)
o Very influenced by Kant Synthetic a priori knowledge is
possible through phenomenology His phenomenology is only a
beginning Free fancy is imagination, opening the object to its
possibilities We have to understand originary givenness Does not
purport to create a system Not everybody can do the reduction Ideas
allow the world to be
21 The pure ego is the source of every mental act, a terminus.
It should not be empirical. 22 Apodicticity is indubitable. Because
the Ideas is apodictic, it is indubitable. 23 The word
phenomenology is present in Kant.
And we move on to Hegel! Oh, not yet, apparently. So, lets stop
by Husserls student first, Heidegger.
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Heidegger
One of the more important students of Husserl He has a love-hate
relationship with Husserl Groomed by Husserl to be the latters heir
Dedicated Being and Time to Husserl Expelled Husserl from the
university Concerned with the question of Being24 What we know as
Being is not actually Being
o [Being is] that which is (Aristotle) o Its study is called
metaphysics (Aristotle); ontology (Leibniz)
We have forgotten Being (from the intellectualization of
culture) The past conception25 of Being is no longer Being We are
no longer talking about Being but entities By intellectualizing, we
are defining, taking away from the originariness (?) Parmenides and
Heraclitus are actually speaking the same thing To reduce Being26
into human concepts becomes a fallacy (?)
o We cannot universalize Being Thinking cannot be divorced from
doing in Being The history of Western metaphysics27 is
ontotheology28 Being is not a concept We cannot approach Being
directly; we have to be content with what is given to us:
entities29 We have to do an ontic detour The entity which is
concerned about its Being is the one we can interrogate (Dasein)
Human being [is classified as either]:
o Das Man (not concerned about its Being) o Dasein
Dasein cares (Sorge)30 When we care about our existence, the
horizon31 opens up and realize
many things Geworfenheit abandonment
24 Fundamental question (What is Being?) 25 Starting from Plato
26 From universalizing Being 27 Categorizing Being; misplacing
Being 28 Concerned with entities, not Being 29 beings (seienden) 30
Gives authentic existence; an important attribute 31 In it, Being
will appear as a phenomena; subject to time
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Dasein is a Being-in-the-world; has the characteristic of
throwness (thrown in the world)
Thinking is manifested in asking Being is existence; appears in
space and time We are entities that can only grasp things in space
and time Aletheia (away from forgetfulness)32 {is either}:
o To uncover o To reveal o The revealing of Being
His phenomenology33 is an existential analytic of Being o
Phenomenology is supposed to be uncovering
His question is a question of ontology (shift from Husserl)
Language is the way to Being, the house of Being
o Allows Being to appear to us, in its highest form (language of
the poets)
Hegel
Introduced to France by Alexander Kojev and Jean Hyppolite
Knowledge is Truth is the whole The Spirit is none other than human
reason
o The Idea is Reason actualized in its movement The study of the
dialectical movement of the Spirit is phenomenology There is no
duality; thought is manifested or it is not thought His work is
basically the Spirit realizing to become Absolute
o The Phenomenology of Spirit is the story of consciousness
unfolding itself, trying to understand itself; from its barest
sense34 towards self-consciousness35
{Through self-consciousness,} (we can think about)
LogicNatureMindArt ReligionPhilosophy36
32 Truth is aletheia. 33 Method where Dasein reveals Being 34
Animal consciousness 35 Think about thinking; desiring desire
Finally, Hegel!
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The process of unfolding is dialectics, occurs in space and time
History is the unfolding of the Spirit
o Kojev The end of history is the moment consciousness
attains
absolute (?), end of the unfolding of the Spirit The moment that
one says he is wrong, he becomes the antithesis to his thesis in
his system Because of him (with Heidegger and Husserl),
contemporary continental philosophy37 is possible
o Kierkegaard Hegels system has no place for the individual With
Nietzsche, lead to Existentialism
When the Spirit reaches the Absolute, it becomes truth itself
Because of the negative, the Spirit is able to move forward
o The movement of Spirit is possible through negativity
{Negativity is} absence, contradiction, antithesis {Negativity}
makes possible to be; [is the] possibility to be
The question of who I am is determined by the question of what I
do Thought must be actualized The only science is philosophy; all
others are pretending to be science
Bataille
Reacting against Hegel o The desire to be38 is both tragic and
incessant.
Conservation {can either be}: Negative (not to do anything)
Positive (to do something) (must be understood this way)
o There is no stabilized whole. o What is outside our sense of
order is a monster
Interrogates the question of use o Use is subject to cultural
& psychological consideration
Gift-exchange is cultural, political, economic, and spiritual
(Marcel Mauss)
36 Consciousness is able to realize its absolute form 37
Marxism, Existentialism, Phenomenology 38 being to be whole
(fulfillment)
Lets move on to Bataille
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Basis: rivalry, violence, a kind of challenge o Power, in its
barest form, is deferral of death
Not founded on use Traced back to Hegel: master-slave
dialectic
Trying to get away from Hegels system To be truly sovereign is
not to be subjected to use, but to waste, destruction,
laughter39
o A sovereign is not subject to the calculation of life and
death Pointed out the question of autonomous being The notions of
autonomy and wholeness are illusions
o Our notions of wholes will be always wrong o Our existence is
in a{n} precarious situation; we are always in relation to
something else:
unstable wholes Concept of labyrinth
o Place without origins or ends (purpose) o There is no
purpose
Employed the transgressive style, to shock us back to realize
that we are insufficient, to concrete existence
o The untimely philosopher is the best judge of his time, for he
is not following the trend He does not belong anywhere Made the
French interpretation of Nietzsche
Derrida
Famous for the project of deconstruction o {Deconstruction is}
from destruktion (from Heidegger40)
Heidegger was not radical enough Dominant backgrounds:
phenomenology & structuralism
o Structuralism A reaction to phenomenology (all objects are
being-for-myself)
To make sense of the oneric (dream), schizophrenic (madness),
and mythic (myth), we have to look at their structures
o The unconscious is given away by desire
39 Recognition that the sovereign is in control of himself 40 To
return to the source, we have to destroy or circumscribe the
history of ontotheology.
Ive heard that Bataille influenced a lot of French philosophers.
From the notes, Derrida is the first honorable mention (tee hee!).
So, lets stop by Derrida.
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Alternative A name that brings fields together (Descombes)
A kind of method Married to semiology
o {Semiology is the} science of signs o An attempt to present an
encompassing study of language o Father: Ferdinand de Saussure o
Sign encompasses all forms of language
{The sign is} bifurcated to signifier (expression of the audio
image of the object) and signified (audio image)
Making a connection between the two is signification
Implications: Language is arbitrary o Our basis of naming
something is based
on difference {The sign is} arbitrary but dependent on time41
{The sign is} difference (what makes it this is because it
is not that) There is no such thing as an original name
The process of signs relating to other signs is signification
(due to the signifier)
o The French structuralists used semiology to understand the
meaning behind structures (?), express structures
It heralded the death of man o Meaning is out there (brings us
to the death of man4243
[reaction against subjectivity] A structure is made up of parts
that convey a certain theme Concerning itself of objects of empty
contents (structures) to models
(Serres) A comparatist method Structures
o {Composed of:} surface structureinformsdeep structure {surface
structureinformsdeep structure are}
analyzed A method that gives us meaning when there is
isomorphism A movement in France
Deconstruction is plotting against the master
41 Speech community (convention) 42 Merely a product of
structures 43 A reaction against human nature
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Derrida
The history of structure is as old as epistem (human knowledge),
where there is an event (a rupture44, a redoubling45, a
scandal46)
Sign is supplement (substitution (the signifier substitutes for
the signified) and addition) o Language is just a play.
There is nothing outside the text; meaning is always deferred o
The moment we try to capture the signified, the signified becomes a
signifier (delay of
meaning Being is just a name for another name (Heidegger enters
the rupture); subject to the play of
difference Radicalized de Saussure Prime target of
deconstruction: metaphysics of presence47 48 49 (there is
privileging)
o To exist is to speak Differance is neither a word nor a
concept
o Differance is a neologism. o To show that meaning is always
elusive
Differ the signifier is not this (space) Defer the signifier is
not this and passed (time)
o If a concept, it is not differance, it becomes not what it
is
44 Rupture of the sign (the signifier collapsing the signified,
becomes a signifier) 45 The signifier is redoubled (when the
signified transforms)
46 Meaning is always delayed 47 Everything has to be there 48
Logos (both being and knowing) (possible only in presence) (truth)
49 Thought
At this point, the notes have segued a bit to Lacan. Its short
so Ill just dictate what it says: Lacan
Floating signifiers (ex. Humor) (between something and nothing)
are the best way to express desire
When you desire something, the expression of that desire will
never be enough
Sorry for that interruption. Lets return to Derrida.
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Meaning is elusive We can deconstruct Truth There is no center,
no essential structure (what deconstruction shows)
Deconstruction must come from a certain tradition There is no
stable position
o Binary opposites dominate metaphysics. Deconstruction shows us
that they are just a play of differences
Heidegger is still doing the metaphysics of presence The writing
of the phenomenological description enters the problem of language
(eidetic
objectivity becomes a name subject to the play of difference)
The critique of phenomenology inaugurated the project of
deconstruction
o Succession is time o The noema is immanent (in consciousness)
and transcendent (outside the world), open
to space and time through hyle The noema does not belong
anywhere (anarchy of noema), and opens up yo the
time and the other. Meaning (to be passed down in history, must
be grounded in language50) then becomes the other of the object and
subject to time.
To reactivate the meaning of language, one must use language.
Reading is decodification (connected to [Reactivation is in
consciousness]), writing is codification. Meaning has not yet
arrived
Nietzsche
True world {has become} fable world (reversion of Platonism) o
If we take away the truth, we cannot say something is false.
Everything else is possible o Taking away the true world is taking
away the reference, and we lose meaning, then
reality. Baudrillard
Hyperreality is what is there (fable world) Simulation is to
feign to have what one does not have (connected to hyperreality)
(play of signs
due to the loss of reality) The product of the play of signs is
hyperreality
o The body is the graveyard of signs.
50 Fixed in writing
Whoo! Nearly done. Ill just go through the last philosophers in
the notes, Nietzsche and Baudrillard, in one go. Theyre connected
any way. Lets move on.
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Baudrillard
The question of reality is paramount Hyperreality is more real
than the real
o The image is something that is given, something that appears
Successive phases {of the image}:
Reflection of a profound reality (corresponding) Masks and
denatures a profound reality (ideology (Marxist sense)51
comes here) (showing by hiding) Masks the absence of a profound
reality {Has the same connotations as
with the above} Has relation to any reality (proper entrance of
simulation) Own pure simulacrum
Neo-Marxist Hyperreality is governed by signs
51 False consciousness
Oh, there are some descriptions of Postmodernism left! Tracing
the question of the death of the real There is a strong current of
anti-realism (started by Kant) (found its way
to the French intellectual scene o Structuralism &
phenomenology collapsed under Derridas
critique
Here ends the notes. It was a lot of fun transcribing. Good luck
in your exams! ^^
With sincerity,
Ai Shindou