Reading Notes

January 26, 1998


Definitions
definitions are important because a discipline is a vocabulary and each discipline has its own vocabulary

ontonological-relating to theories of being or existance
epistomological-the study of ways of knowing, a branch of philosophy (what does one know?)
logocentrism-giving a primacy to the word
teleological-there is a purpose, things happen for a cause, not by chance, intentional
hysteria-the greek word for uterus, a woman's illness, psychological, no medical cause
heuristic-ways of finding out things (like a labyrinth), ways of revealing things, something guides you
ideological-a systematic way of thought that governs rules about society, related to ideas, is abstract
agonistic-involved in a struggle, a fight, an argument (if a is true, b can not be true)
ethics-rules of value based on beliefs/opinions of right and wrong to codify or govern behavior


Questions For the Day
#1 What Does Theory Claim To Do?
#2 What Is Wrong With Theory?
#3 What Does Good Theory Do?


Question #1 What Does Theory Claim To Do?
Shoshana Felman's article "Woman and Madness"
-theory creates the other and consequently hierarchy
-madness is unique to females, but detracts from their femininity
There are 2 ways to look at madness
1. madness is not a good thing
madness causes women to withdrawl from the system
ex. Phyllis Chesler's view
2. madness is a way to refuse patriarchal culture and rebel
madness is a positive thing (a rebellion)
There are 2 ways to study madness in feminism
1. concentrating on what women think
do not try to change the existing framework
ex. Chesler
2. try to change the framework
but a problem exists because the other perspective does not exist and, therefore, must be created

Question #2 What is Wrong With Theory?
Felman presents no new evidence in her article,
which is often a criticism for the institution of criticism and
a criticism of theory as an institution


Question #3 What Does Good Theory Do?
Good Theory would:
-be more inclusive
-see what we are conditioned to be blind to
-shift categories
-create new categories
-create the tools needed


Joanna Russ "Anamalousness"
-is a practical essay with statistics
-claims toward theoretical knowledge and theory
-knowledge is political
-knowledge is not innocent
-we need to de-center/shift knowledge to create a new perspective


James Sosnoski "A Mindless Man-driven Theory Machine"
-knowledge is created by falsifying someone else's knowledge
ex. Felman's article begins by falsifying Chesler's and Irigaray's works
-Can we argue any other way?
-Sosnoski's "new" way of doing it is not really new, but flipped and dichotomous
-there is no wrong, we create wrong for academia
-feminist theory is even often based on falisfying men's previous theories/works
-theory is a machine so be wary when reading
look for the author's motives and goals
look for new knowledge that is generated by the author


notes were taken by Janice McCabe