scholarly journals Marx against Marx: A Critical Reading of the "Fragment on Machines"

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 327-339
Author(s):  
Martin Spence
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Economy ◽  
Fixed Capital ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Critical Reading ◽  
Main Current ◽  
Theoretical Innovation ◽  
Critical Interpretation ◽  
General Intellect ◽  
The Way

Marx’s Fragment on Machines is sometimes held up as a creative departure from orthodoxy, and a prescient harbinger of a knowledge economy. In particular the concept of general intellect, which appears uniquely in the Fragment, is celebrated as a key theoretical innovation. This article presents a close reading and critical interpretation of the text of the Fragment to argue, firstly, that its primary theme is not general intellect, but fixed capital; secondly, that its emphasis on fixed capital is unduly narrow and productivist, leading to an equally narrow treatment of labour and value; and finally, it seeks to explain why Marx produced this odd work, so much out of step with the main current of his thought, at the time and in the way that he did.

Bad Dreams and Secret Artists: Translating Freud into Literature

2002 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Patterson
Keyword(s):  
Sigmund Freud ◽  
Ordinary Language ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Careful Attention ◽  
Popular Approach ◽  
English Reader ◽  
Creative Writer ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Way

This article addresses the increasingly popular approach to Freud and his work which sees him primarily as a literary writer rather than a psychologist, and takes this as the context for an examination of Joyce Crick's recent translation of The Interpretation of Dreams. It claims that translation lies at the heart of psychoanalysis, and that the many interlocking and overlapping implications of the word need to be granted a greater degree of complexity. Those who argue that Freud is really a creative writer are themselves doing a work of translation, and one which fails to pay sufficiently careful attention to the role of translation in writing itself (including the notion of repression itself as a failure to translate). Lesley Chamberlain's The Secret Artist: A Close Reading of Sigmund Freud is taken as an example of the way Freud gets translated into a novelist or an artist, and her claims for his ‘bizarre poems' are criticized. The rest of the article looks closely at Crick's new translation and its claim to be restoring Freud the stylist, an ordinary language Freud, to the English reader. The experience of reading Crick's translation is compared with that of reading Strachey's, rather to the latter's advantage.

When Is a Religion Like a Weed?

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 10-18
Author(s):  
Nathan Rein
Keyword(s):  
Analytical Study ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Focus Attention ◽  
The Way

Caroline Schaffalitzky de Muckadell's 2014 article, "On Essentialism and Real Definitions of Religion," offers a comprehensive rationale for the use of real, essentialist definitions of religion in the field of religious studies. In this article, I examine her arguments and the proposed definition she supplies. I argue that a close reading of Schaffalitzky's piece, concentrating especially on the way she uses examples, helps to demonstrate that she and her anti-essentialist opponents view the field of religious studies in incommensurable ways. While Schaffalitzky views definitions as serving the analytical study of religion as an object, her opponents view definitions primarily rhetorically and seek to focus attention on the process of defining.

Maimonides and the Pre-Maimonidean Jewish Philosophical Tradition According to Hermann Cohen

2010 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron W. Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Central Place ◽  
Philosophical Tradition ◽  
Critical Reading ◽  
Prime Matter ◽  
Hermann Cohen ◽  
Aristotelian Metaphysics ◽  
The Way

AbstractThis paper examines Hermann Cohen’s idiosyncratic construction of a medieval Jewish philosophical tradition, focusing primarily, though not exclusively, on his Charakteristik der Ethik Maimunis. This construction, not unlike modern accounts, is filtered through the central place of Maimonides. For Cohen, however, Maimonides’ centrality is defined not by his systematization of Aristotelianism, but by his elevation of ethics over metaphysics. The ethical and pantheistic concerns of Maimonides’ precursors, according to this reading, anticipate his uniqueness. Whereas Shlomo ibn Gabirol’s pantheistic doctrine of emanation, for example, assigned little weight to ethics, Abraham ibn Daud rebelled against such a doctrine. Ibn Daud—much like Bahya ibn Paquda and Abraham ibn Ezra—becomes part of a Jewish philosophical tradition that culminates in Maimonides’ rejection of Aristotelian metaphysics. In particular, this paper examines the way in which Cohen envisaged the pre-Maimonidean philosophical tradition, putting his highly critical reading of Shlomo ibn Gabirol and his pantheistic obsession with prime matter in counterpoint with his more favorable readings of Abraham ibn Daud and Bahya ibn Paquda.

The Justified Body: Hauerwas, Luther and the Christian Life

2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-78
Author(s):  
Justin Nickel
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Sacramental Theology ◽  
Christian Life ◽  
Stanley Hauerwas ◽  
The One ◽  
God's Grace ◽  
Ethical Significance ◽  
The Way

Stanley Hauerwas and others argue that Luther’s understanding of justification denies the theological and ethical significance of the body. Indeed, the inner, spiritual person is the one who experiences God’s grace in the gospel, while the outer, physical (read: bodily) person continues to live under law and therefore coercion and condemnation. While not denying that Luther can be so read, I argue that there is another side of Luther, one that recognizes the body’s importance for Christian life. I make this argument through a close reading of Luther’s reflections on Adam and Eve’s Fall in his Lectures on Genesis (1545) and the sacramental theology in ‘Against the Heavenly Prophets’. For this Luther, disconnection from our bodies is not a sign of justification but rather the sin from which justification saves us. Accordingly, justification results in a return to embodied creatureliness as the way we receive and live our justification.

scholarly journals Ruin philosophy, poetic discourse and the collapse of meta-narratives in Aleksandr Kushner's poetry of the 1970s

Nordlit ◽  
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Schönle
Keyword(s):  
The Self ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Poetic Discourse ◽  
Philosophical Background ◽  
The Face ◽  
Creative Forces ◽  
Bear Witness ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
The Way

This article offers an analysis of the trope of ruin in the poetry of Aleksandr Kushner (born 1936), in particular through a close reading of two of his poems: “In a slippery graveyard, alone” and “Ruins”. The analysis of these poems is preceded by an overview of ruin philosophy from Burke and Diderot to Simmel and Benjamin, with particular emphasis on the way the trope of ruin contemplation stages a confrontation between the self and what transcends it (death, history, nature, etc.). This philosophical background serves as a heuristic tool to shed light on the poetry of Kushner. Through the trope of ruin, Kushner explores the legitimacy of poetic speech after the collapse of all meta-narratives. Kushner has no truck with Diderot's solipsism, nor with Hegel's bold narrative of progress, nor with Simmel's peaceful reconciliation with the creative forces of nature. Nor, really, does he intend to bear witness to history, the way Benjamin does in the faint anticipation of some miracle. Instead, Kushner posits the endurance of a community united not around a grand project, but around the idea of carrying on in the face of everything, muddling through despite the lack of hopes for a transformational future and making the most of fleeting moments of positivity that emerge out of the fundamental serendipity of history.

scholarly journals SUBJETIVAÇÕES RIZOMÁTICAS E A IDEIA DE CORPO SEM ÓRGÃOS EM A FÚRIA DO CORPO, DE JOÃO GILBERTO NOLL

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 261-275
Author(s):  
Francisca Gilmara da Silva Almiro ◽  
Roniê Rodrigues da Silva
Keyword(s):  
Identity Construction ◽  
Gilles Deleuze ◽  
The Body ◽  
Felix Guattari ◽  
Critical Reading ◽  
Deleuze And Guattari ◽  
Brazilian Literature ◽  
Body Without Organs ◽  
The Way

O trabalho apresenta uma leitura da obra A Fúria do corpo, de João Gilberto Noll, a partir dos conceitos de Corpo sem Órgãos e Rizoma propostos pelos filósofos franceses Gilles Deleuze e Félix Guattari. Nesse sentido, objetiva estudar a construção identitária das personagens da referida narrativa, estabelecendo uma associação com essas noções filosóficas, problematizando, sobretudo, a errância das personagens e a linguagem utilizada para a composição da obra. Ao longo da leitura crítica, destacaremos como o texto de Noll nos desafia à construção de sentidos através de uma subjetividade constituída a partir de linhas de fuga, ideia discutida pelos filósofos supracitados. Ao adentrarmos no texto ficcional pelo viés de tais linhas, é possível entender como as personagens percebem e vivem suas experimentações rizomáticas. Desse modo, não se pretende aqui atribuir sentidos fechados à narrativa, mas sugerir que o Corpo sem Órgãos e o Rizoma são características que representam as experiências errantes das personagens encontradas na escrita de Noll. Palavras-chave: Literatura Brasileira Contemporânea. João Gilberto Noll. Identidade. Corpo sem Órgãos. Rizoma. THE RHIZOME AND THE IDEA OF BODY WITHOUT ORGANS IN THE FURY OF THE BODY, BY JOÃO GILBERTO NOLL Abstract: This paper presents a reading of The Fury of the Body, by João Gilberto Noll, based on the concepts of Body without Organs and Rhizome proposed by French philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. It aims to study the characters’ identity construction, establishing an association with these philosophical notions, exploring, especially, the characters’ wandering nature and the language used in the composition of the work. Throughout this critical reading, emphasis will be given on the way Noll’s text challenge us to construct directions through a subjectivity built from escape lines, a concept defined by Deleuze and Guattari. By reading the narrative through these lenses, it is possible to understand how the characters perceive and live their rhizomatic trials. Thus, the intention here is not to attribute closed meanings to the narrative, but to suggest that the Body without Organs and the Rhizome are features that represent the characters’ wandering experiences in The Fury of the Body. Keywords: Contemporary Brazilian Literature. João Gilberto Noll. Identity. Body without Organs. Rhizome.

On the transmodality of signs and their interpretants: Evidence from Peirce’s MS 599, Reason’s Rules

Semiotica ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 (228) ◽  
pp. 223-235
Author(s):  
Winfried Nöth
Keyword(s):  
Media Studies ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
The State ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Communicative Process ◽  
External Sign ◽  
The One ◽  
The Way

AbstractThe paper begins with a survey of the state of the art in multimodal research, an international trend in applied semiotics, linguistics, and media studies, and goes on to compare its approach to verbal and nonverbal signs to Charles S. Peirce’s approach to signs and their classification. The author introduces the concept of transmodality to characterize the way in which Peirce’s classification of signs reflects the modes of multimodality research and argues that Peirce’s classification of the signs takes modes and modalities in two different respects into consideration, (1) from the perspective of the sign and (2) from the one of its interpretant. While current research in multimodality has its focus on the (external) sign in a communicative process, Peirce considers additionally the multimodality of the interpretants, i.e., the mental icons and indexical scenarios evoked in the interpreters’ minds. The paper illustrates and comments on the Peircean method of studying the multi and transmodality of signs in an analysis of Peirce’s close reading of Luke 19:30 in MS 599, Reason’s Rules, of c. 1902. As a sign, this text is “monomodal” insofar as it consists of printed words only. The study shows in which respects the interpretants of this text evince trans and multimodality.

Australian Gothic Soundscapes: The Proposition

2013 ◽  
Vol 148 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johnny Milner
Keyword(s):  
Close Reading ◽  
Sound Effects ◽  
The Way

While recent studies demonstrate a significant increase in the level of interest in the soundtracks of Australian cinema, very little attention has focused on the way soundtracks can convey the ‘gothic’ within an outback-cinematic context. This article attempts to begin to address this issue by providing a close reading of the Australian gothic Western The Proposition – looking specifically to its sonic dimensions, namely the amalgam of score, dialogue and sound effects. The article argues that the film's soundtrack draws from a range of Australian literary and cinematic tropes, and draws specifically on the aural and epistemological gothic traits of Australia, the outback and its perception as unfamiliar space during the time of settlement. Following this discussion, the focus shifts to ways in which The Proposition's soundtrack foregrounds significations that offer new, and complex, articulations of a specifically ‘Australian gothic’.

James Turner Johnson's Just War Idea: Commanding the Headwaters of Tradition

2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cian O'Driscoll
Keyword(s):  
Historical Development ◽  
Just War ◽  
Critical Reading ◽  
Historical Reconstruction ◽  
Critical Commentary ◽  
Christian Love ◽  
Just War Tradition ◽  
The Ideal ◽  
The Way

James Turner Johnson is the foremost scholar of the just war tradition working today. His treatment of the historical development of the just war tradition has been hugely important, influencing a generation of theorists. Despite this, Johnson's work has not generated much in the way of critical commentary or analysis. This paper aims to rectify this oversight. Engaging in a close and critical reading of Johnson's work, it claims that his historical reconstruction of the just war tradition is bounded by two key thematic lines — the imperative of vindicative justice and the ideal of Christian love — and occasionally betrays an excessive deference to the authority of past practice. By way of conclusion, this paper sums up the promise and limits of Johnson's approach, and reflects upon its contribution to contemporary just war scholarship.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document