Duration is lived experience. Time, as we know it, is an artifice -- an attempt by the perceiving mind to order experience according to utility. We think of time in terms of what we can do with it. Thus we carve up our lives into years, days, hours, minutes, and seconds, vainly attempting to impose finite, metric order upon infinite duration. Nevertheless, spacetime is in constant motion, and the accumulation of that duration, what we call the past, both constitutes and eats into the present. Duration is therefore a creative process, constantly producing the past, present, and future, not to mention evolutionary movement.
These are precepts of Henri Bergson's philosophy, as laid out in Creative Evolution (1907). To make an argument here, I would need to go into much deeper detail, but I want to sketch out a critique (which I'm sure has been made many times since Bergson's argument appeared): is development always positive?
For Bergson, duration is always a creative process that, like a snowball rolling down a hill, accumulates more and more as it moves: more life, more experience, more emotion, more energy, and so forth. He is critical of the so-called "life-sciences," which he argues are only capable of examining the ways in which energy wastes away -- death processes -- rather than truly generative phenomena, such as evolution.
But surely there is a moment for negation? Bergson is not a dialectician, and it shows -- for Hegel, writing a century earlier, there was no movement without the negative. Things only emerge or move that have tarried with and incorporated the negative, through a dialectical process of development. Bergson seems to do away with the negative, as if all development were positive, just experience accumulating upon experience, not toward anything necessarily (he critiqued teleological "finalism"), but nevertheless forward.
Contemporaries of Bergson, most notably Nietzsche, would argue for the possibility (even necessity) of negative development. Not every step is a step forward. History moves, but is it always moving forward? Surely there is a role for retrogression, as well as progression, in the study of life, or society, or history. I don't mean to say that the past is repeatable -- you can't go home again -- at least, you could go home, but it wouldn't be the same home, or you wouldn't be the same, which amounts to alienation in either case. No, the past isn't repeatable, but duration, for me, is not just a process by which things are created. It can also be a process by which they are destroyed.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Critique of Postmodern Intellectualism in the Mode of Dada
From another blog:
"When you click the link for the Postmodernism Generator (www.elsewhere.org/pomo), a software robot working behind the scenes instantly throws together a lit-crit parody with a title like this: "Realities of Absurdity: The dialectic paradigm of context in the works of Fellini." And a text that runs along these lines: "In a sense, the main theme of the works of Fellini is the futility, and hence the stasis, of precapitalist sexuality. An abundance of deconceptualisms concerning a self-falsifying reality may be revealed."
Reload the page, and you get 'The Dialectic of Sexual Identity: Objectivism and Baudrillardist hyperreality' and then 'The Meaninglessness of Expression: Capitalist feminism in the works of Pynchon'"
"When you click the link for the Postmodernism Generator (www.elsewhere.org/pomo), a software robot working behind the scenes instantly throws together a lit-crit parody with a title like this: "Realities of Absurdity: The dialectic paradigm of context in the works of Fellini." And a text that runs along these lines: "In a sense, the main theme of the works of Fellini is the futility, and hence the stasis, of precapitalist sexuality. An abundance of deconceptualisms concerning a self-falsifying reality may be revealed."
Reload the page, and you get 'The Dialectic of Sexual Identity: Objectivism and Baudrillardist hyperreality' and then 'The Meaninglessness of Expression: Capitalist feminism in the works of Pynchon'"
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Wallace Shawn -- The Fever
Just got tickets to see Wallace Shawn perform his one man play The Fever on Sunday. Read about it here: http://socialistworker.org/2007-1/620/620_13_TheFever.shtml
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Spring 2012 courses
Here are the classes I'm taking this semester:
Social Theory of Time and Space : Stanley Aronowitz
American Labor and Globalization : Frances Fox Piven
Hegel - Phenomenology of Spirit (uncredited small-group seminar) : Stanley Aronowitz
Prof. Stanley Aronowitz saronowitz@gc.cuny.edu
Soc. 80000- Social Theory of Time & Space {17533}
Thursdays, 4:15 – 6:15 p.m. Room TBA, 3 credits
Time and space are relatively neglected topics in the social sciences. But they are central to the natural sciences which have fundamentally altered our conceptions. This course explores the concepts of time and space in social theory. Beginning with how physics and biology address these questions, we will see how philosophers such as Henri Bergson, Gaston Bachelard, and Alfred North Whitehead dealt with them. Finally, the work of E.P. Thompson, Henri Lefebvre, Norbert Elias and the Frankfurt School, particularly Theodor Adorno and Herbert Marcuse will be discussed. Among the readings:
Lee Smolin- The Trouble with Physics
Levins and Lewontin- The Dialectical Biologist
Bergson- Matter and Memory
Bachelard- Dialectic of Duration
Whitehead- Selections from Process and Reality
Thompson- "Time, Work- Discipline…"
Lefebvre- Production of Space; Critique of Everyday Life volume 3.
Norbert Elias- Time: an Essay
Adorno- Selections from Negative Dialectic
Marcuse- One Dimensional Man
Some of these readings will be in the form of class presentations.
Frances Fox Piven
LABR 601 – Labor and Globalization
Course Description:
This course will examine the impact of the globalization of production on work itself, as well as on workers and international labor movements. It will present globalization as a central problem for both developed and developing economies and as a dilemma for U.S. workers and their unions. Students will analyze the history and function of the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank, determining how these institutions influence the global flow of capital and labor as well as the flow of goods and services. The course covers topics essential for understanding workers' issues and rights in contemporary economies. These include the impact of global outsourcing; the rise of women in workforces around the world and the implications for issues of gender; organizing in a multi-national context; increasing poverty and inequality; and the decreased regulatory powers of states relative to multinational corporations as a result of free-trade agreements and neo-liberal development policies. All topics will be studied from a historical perspective that traces the development of capitalism from its beginnings in nation-states to its current hegemony in the global marketplace. Students will study responses of the labor movement to capital flight and to the movement of jobs and production across national borders, including efforts at cross-border organizing. They will examine the extent and effectiveness of global labor strategies and the potential of broad-based coalitions to protect workers' rights.
Social Theory of Time and Space : Stanley Aronowitz
American Labor and Globalization : Frances Fox Piven
Hegel - Phenomenology of Spirit (uncredited small-group seminar) : Stanley Aronowitz
Prof. Stanley Aronowitz saronowitz@gc.cuny.edu
Soc. 80000- Social Theory of Time & Space {17533}
Thursdays, 4:15 – 6:15 p.m. Room TBA, 3 credits
Time and space are relatively neglected topics in the social sciences. But they are central to the natural sciences which have fundamentally altered our conceptions. This course explores the concepts of time and space in social theory. Beginning with how physics and biology address these questions, we will see how philosophers such as Henri Bergson, Gaston Bachelard, and Alfred North Whitehead dealt with them. Finally, the work of E.P. Thompson, Henri Lefebvre, Norbert Elias and the Frankfurt School, particularly Theodor Adorno and Herbert Marcuse will be discussed. Among the readings:
Lee Smolin- The Trouble with Physics
Levins and Lewontin- The Dialectical Biologist
Bergson- Matter and Memory
Bachelard- Dialectic of Duration
Whitehead- Selections from Process and Reality
Thompson- "Time, Work- Discipline…"
Lefebvre- Production of Space; Critique of Everyday Life volume 3.
Norbert Elias- Time: an Essay
Adorno- Selections from Negative Dialectic
Marcuse- One Dimensional Man
Some of these readings will be in the form of class presentations.
Frances Fox Piven
LABR 601 – Labor and Globalization
Course Description:
This course will examine the impact of the globalization of production on work itself, as well as on workers and international labor movements. It will present globalization as a central problem for both developed and developing economies and as a dilemma for U.S. workers and their unions. Students will analyze the history and function of the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank, determining how these institutions influence the global flow of capital and labor as well as the flow of goods and services. The course covers topics essential for understanding workers' issues and rights in contemporary economies. These include the impact of global outsourcing; the rise of women in workforces around the world and the implications for issues of gender; organizing in a multi-national context; increasing poverty and inequality; and the decreased regulatory powers of states relative to multinational corporations as a result of free-trade agreements and neo-liberal development policies. All topics will be studied from a historical perspective that traces the development of capitalism from its beginnings in nation-states to its current hegemony in the global marketplace. Students will study responses of the labor movement to capital flight and to the movement of jobs and production across national borders, including efforts at cross-border organizing. They will examine the extent and effectiveness of global labor strategies and the potential of broad-based coalitions to protect workers' rights.
To get this going again, I'm posting a response I've written, but not yet sent, to a thread in the Health Care for the 99% working group, of which, as an organizer for Physicians for a National Health Program, I am now a part. HC99% is a working group of Occupy Wall Street, and we have been discussing a logo for our group. Initial designs, much in the mode of OWS, have included a clenched fist, along with a symbol of medicine or health care. Members of the group have objected to our using this imagery, suggesting that it is too violent and confrontational, and will turn off the public. Here is my response:
Occupy Wall Street is a resistance movement, and resistance movements rely on powerful images of resistance to motivate, galvanize, and mobilize people. Some may take issue with this opening formula -- that OWS is a resistance movement -- but given the hegemonic nature of the target (and don't get it twisted, there is a target: it's right there in the name), the brutal response of the authorities, and the popular anger the movement has both aroused and, we hope, organized and directed, I think this is an accurate characterization, especially in the global context of resistance to austerity and corporate state control of life. The extent to which we, as a health care oriented group within OWS, align ourselves with that struggle is, it appears, still an open question.
What is the fight for universal health care? Is it a fight against corporate forces and the state apparatuses they control? A struggle of the popular will against that of private capital? Is it a fight at all? If it's not a fight, then by all means let's tone down the imagery. If it's just a matter of educating folks and waiting for people in power to do the right thing, then yes, we should use less confrontational imagery. But in my view, this is a confrontation, and we must be prepared (with images, ideas, and mutual love and respect for one another) to face it. OWS is a resistance movement, which is why I joined it. This is also why I joined the struggle for health care, a struggle that embodies the totality of what is at stake: our very lives. The FIST, raised proudly in the air, unafraid, unwavering, willing to risk everything for the sake of everything. This is the essence of resistance.
I understand that people follow OWS for different reasons, and that many DO NOT follow OWS at all; and furthermore, these are often the folks that must be involved if we are to be successful. I do not want to struggle for its own sake (although I would); I want to struggle because I want to win. On the other hand, I don't want to be so worried that calling a spade a spade will 'turn people off' that we lose our own values in the process. As scholars of social struggle and organizers alike know, we don't build strength by deferring the struggle, we build power through the struggle -- precisely by engaging in struggle; not by accommodating fear, but by confronting it, and overcoming it. One may agree that OWS is a resistance movement, but disagree that this is true of health care (the press, for instance, will refer to this as "the health care debate," as if there were somehow two equally legitimate sides, or as if there were anything decent or civil or fair about what is in fact a forceful dispossession of people from their lives).
Why, then, do we organize in the OWS context? Simply because it's "hot"? I don't believe so. As Steve pointed out, our imagery does serve many purposes, some of which may be contradictory given different contexts. But facing contradiction is the heart of what we are doing: we face the social contradiction of a vastly wealthy society that refuses to provide care to huge numbers of people living within it. My goal is not to convince people that there is no struggle -- that we all just need to think clearly and get along and things will work out -- no, my goal is to bring people into the struggle in a way that prepares them for the brute response of the adversary, a response we see rehearsed by police in the streets, authorities in the courts, and bulldozers on the hospital grounds.
What does this mean for our imagery? For me it means that we should not be shy about putting our anger and indignation, but much more importantly our resolve, determination and spirit of solidarity, on display -- and the most coherent image of that spirit is a proudly raised fist.
So first of all, I thank Josh and everyone who has contributed to the design process -- the images have been wonderful.
Secondly, (and I know this has been a long message already) I want to voice STRONG support for retaining the image of clenched fists in our logos and materials.
Thank you all,
Sam
Occupy Wall Street is a resistance movement, and resistance movements rely on powerful images of resistance to motivate, galvanize, and mobilize people. Some may take issue with this opening formula -- that OWS is a resistance movement -- but given the hegemonic nature of the target (and don't get it twisted, there is a target: it's right there in the name), the brutal response of the authorities, and the popular anger the movement has both aroused and, we hope, organized and directed, I think this is an accurate characterization, especially in the global context of resistance to austerity and corporate state control of life. The extent to which we, as a health care oriented group within OWS, align ourselves with that struggle is, it appears, still an open question.
What is the fight for universal health care? Is it a fight against corporate forces and the state apparatuses they control? A struggle of the popular will against that of private capital? Is it a fight at all? If it's not a fight, then by all means let's tone down the imagery. If it's just a matter of educating folks and waiting for people in power to do the right thing, then yes, we should use less confrontational imagery. But in my view, this is a confrontation, and we must be prepared (with images, ideas, and mutual love and respect for one another) to face it. OWS is a resistance movement, which is why I joined it. This is also why I joined the struggle for health care, a struggle that embodies the totality of what is at stake: our very lives. The FIST, raised proudly in the air, unafraid, unwavering, willing to risk everything for the sake of everything. This is the essence of resistance.
I understand that people follow OWS for different reasons, and that many DO NOT follow OWS at all; and furthermore, these are often the folks that must be involved if we are to be successful. I do not want to struggle for its own sake (although I would); I want to struggle because I want to win. On the other hand, I don't want to be so worried that calling a spade a spade will 'turn people off' that we lose our own values in the process. As scholars of social struggle and organizers alike know, we don't build strength by deferring the struggle, we build power through the struggle -- precisely by engaging in struggle; not by accommodating fear, but by confronting it, and overcoming it. One may agree that OWS is a resistance movement, but disagree that this is true of health care (the press, for instance, will refer to this as "the health care debate," as if there were somehow two equally legitimate sides, or as if there were anything decent or civil or fair about what is in fact a forceful dispossession of people from their lives).
Why, then, do we organize in the OWS context? Simply because it's "hot"? I don't believe so. As Steve pointed out, our imagery does serve many purposes, some of which may be contradictory given different contexts. But facing contradiction is the heart of what we are doing: we face the social contradiction of a vastly wealthy society that refuses to provide care to huge numbers of people living within it. My goal is not to convince people that there is no struggle -- that we all just need to think clearly and get along and things will work out -- no, my goal is to bring people into the struggle in a way that prepares them for the brute response of the adversary, a response we see rehearsed by police in the streets, authorities in the courts, and bulldozers on the hospital grounds.
What does this mean for our imagery? For me it means that we should not be shy about putting our anger and indignation, but much more importantly our resolve, determination and spirit of solidarity, on display -- and the most coherent image of that spirit is a proudly raised fist.
So first of all, I thank Josh and everyone who has contributed to the design process -- the images have been wonderful.
Secondly, (and I know this has been a long message already) I want to voice STRONG support for retaining the image of clenched fists in our logos and materials.
Thank you all,
Sam
Thursday, October 20, 2011
So much has happened...
So much has happened since I moved to New York City in January: I've been involved in protests, small and large. I've attended conferences, coffee dates, and countless meetings. I've studied, read, written, and talked a great deal (especially talked). I've walked, too -- walked all over New York, and ridden the subway. Seen shows on Broadway. Eaten out in Brooklyn. Drank in Chinatown. I've Slept on the street (in protest). I've worked in 18th floor offices, and danced in underground clubs. Chelsea galleries, some better than others, I've wandered. Talk to me before getting coffee in Soho: I know the best spot. In the summer I was arrested for taking part in an act of civil disobedience, and spent about 24 hours in a downtown jail. I also saw a polo match on Governor's Island. I've visited with residents of Jamaica, Queens, about the foreclosure crisis in their community. I walked with a worker to the office of one of the richest and most powerful men in the city, to deliver a basic message about workers' rights. I've fought for unions. I've fought against budget cuts, tuition increases, and other kinds of unfair treatment. I know students, workers, radicals, politicians, professors, reporters, janitors, union presidents, musicians, lawyers, bankers, baristas, a few anarchists, dozens of communists, two federal agents, and one hipster detective.
So there's all that, plus much more. I'll try to use this blog to write about as many of those things as I can, while also trying to keep things current.
All love to my Mom, who is laid up right now after a brutal leg injury and two surgeries. She is recovering, and I can't wait to visit next month!
Sam
#OccupyWallStreet
So there's all that, plus much more. I'll try to use this blog to write about as many of those things as I can, while also trying to keep things current.
All love to my Mom, who is laid up right now after a brutal leg injury and two surgeries. She is recovering, and I can't wait to visit next month!
Sam
#OccupyWallStreet
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Welcome
Hi Everyone, and welcome to my blog. In addition to writing about working, studying, and living in New York City, I'll be writing about politics, culture, history, and, lots of other -- well, you get the idea. For my first entry, however, I'm just going to direct you to this song (video rather, which you should watch in full screen and HD), and dedicate it to my mother and to my Aunt Marsha, in the hopes that the spirit of the north will continue to guide them.
Thanks, lots more to come.
Sam
Thanks, lots more to come.
Sam
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