Self-reflexive musings on agency . . .

Edouard Lagache (lagache who-is-at violet.berkeley.edu)
Wed, 29 Nov 1995 09:03:54 -0800

Hello Dewey (and everyone,)

Just a quick thought here (taking a break from panicking . . the healthy
thing to do! :-)

>Unfortunately, _any_ situation in which there is some difference in pov
>_could_ be handled in an argumentative, adversarial, aggresive style and it
>seems that regardless of how a difference of pov is addressed, someone
>_could_ choose to "take" or view this handling as argumentative and
^^^^^^
>adversarial.

Whenever I see the world 'choice,' a little warning flag is run up in my
social space. If we take the social constructivist view seriously, then
'free choice' (a la Sartre's notion of radical free will) just dissolves.
Since on that view we are all packages of "congealed history," action
looks very different. In some sense, any sort of 'adversarial stance' is
simply our history coming back to bite us.

In grading papers this term I found that my notions of "constructive
criticism" came across to my students as fairly nasty attacks. In some
sense my students are now revealing to me how caustic my academic
upbringing was. When faced with such discoveries, the best one can do is
. . live and learn.

Happy academizing . . :-)

Edouard

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: Edouard Lagache :
: lagache who-is-at violet.berkeley.edu :
:..................................................................:
: "ISAWI'S" Fourth Law of Progress :
: The Pace of Progress: :
: Society is a mule, not a car . . . If pressed too hard :
: it will kick and throw off it's rider. :
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