"Dead White Males" (continued).
David Williamson:
' "Dead White Males" satirised the dominant thinking of the humanities in our era, variously called postmodernism, post-structuralism and deconstructionism etc .........the central proposition seems to be that there is no "reality" in the world other than the one constructed by words. Categories are constructed according to the power interests of groups advantaged by such constructions and the main intellectual labour confronting the humanities is to deconstruct these false categories and show them not to be based on objective reality or knowledge but on ideology generated by a group wishing to attain or maintain a power advantage. The corollary of this belief is that these ideologies or discourses are taken to be the "truth" by those generating them and most times by those who are being exploited. Thus the only way that justice will be served is by analysing the modes and techniques of verbal deceit used in the construction of these ideologies to expose their fallacies and implausibilities.......
......I think that the irritation that many feel with THEORY springs from the fact that "theory" itself can be seen as a grab after power and prestige within the academy and the wider community by those who espouse it........in part this claim to authority and prestige is based on overstatement of the domain of legitimacy of "theory". The claim that there is no reality other than the "reality" created by words is at the heart of that overstatement.......most of us in our bones know that there is a reality out there that has not been "constructed" by rhetorical sleight of hand and are annoyed when that possibility is denied. The reason WHY social constructionists attempt to extend their domain of authority seems obvious. If words DO create all, then the sorcerers who know the rules of rhetorical deceit can decipher all the puzzles of the known world and become the powerful shamans of our time.........'
' "Dead White Males" satirised the dominant thinking of the humanities in our era, variously called postmodernism, post-structuralism and deconstructionism etc .........the central proposition seems to be that there is no "reality" in the world other than the one constructed by words. Categories are constructed according to the power interests of groups advantaged by such constructions and the main intellectual labour confronting the humanities is to deconstruct these false categories and show them not to be based on objective reality or knowledge but on ideology generated by a group wishing to attain or maintain a power advantage. The corollary of this belief is that these ideologies or discourses are taken to be the "truth" by those generating them and most times by those who are being exploited. Thus the only way that justice will be served is by analysing the modes and techniques of verbal deceit used in the construction of these ideologies to expose their fallacies and implausibilities.......
......I think that the irritation that many feel with THEORY springs from the fact that "theory" itself can be seen as a grab after power and prestige within the academy and the wider community by those who espouse it........in part this claim to authority and prestige is based on overstatement of the domain of legitimacy of "theory". The claim that there is no reality other than the "reality" created by words is at the heart of that overstatement.......most of us in our bones know that there is a reality out there that has not been "constructed" by rhetorical sleight of hand and are annoyed when that possibility is denied. The reason WHY social constructionists attempt to extend their domain of authority seems obvious. If words DO create all, then the sorcerers who know the rules of rhetorical deceit can decipher all the puzzles of the known world and become the powerful shamans of our time.........'
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