Re: Habermas/disembodied theory

From: Phillip White (Phillip_White@ceo.cudenver.edu)
Date: Mon Nov 06 2000 - 18:25:00 PST


        Scrobe Dot, responding to Judy -
>
>*note, I heard Habermas speak many times when I was at the University of
>Frankfurt, Germany, and have
>always admired him tremendously for many reasons (e.g., his own problems
>in actually speaking).
> However, after studying Habermas for so long, I
>personally feel that his theory/praxis of overall understanding is truly
>"disembodied."
 

        the activity of the philosopher/theorist is often, i think, the activity
of writing and thinking - and then the writing because a recursive
activity upon itself - rather than putting down the pen/keyboard, and
moving into another activity that reflects upon the theory within that
other activity. i've written about this before in earlier texts - and
so while the philospher/theorist thinks out the problems in her text, and
then solves them within the text, the text is the activity - while the
teacher attempts to implement the theory in an activity that is not about
writing, but about multiple unexpected constraints and resistances, and
there is then something else again.

        responding, Dot, to your descriptions of teaching first year language
classes and using CHAT as your research lense - this in response to Judy
& diane's query about practice and CHAT - and following Mike's multiple
examples - i'd like to add that in my own research on my practice as a
teacher, i've used Engstrom's activity triangle as an organizing tool,
placing myself as the subject, and wanting to understand a particular
activity of the students as the object. also, i know that kathie goff who
is part of xmca has also used Engstrom's triangle similarly, placing
herself as the subject, in her dissertation research.

        it makes sense to me that a teacher researcher would do this if the goal
is particulary in the arena of effecting change of perspective of the
students - looking at it from a Batesonian perspective, the researcher
is a part of the system - can not be an outside objective observer.

        also, thinking of modern philosophers who attempted to place into
activity their own theories, i'm reminded of Foucault who worked for
prison reform, issues about acceptance of Algerians, gay/lesbian identity,
and even his own participation in S & M, all from the reference points of
power and change and privilege and invisibility, to name but a few, that
he was interested in theorizing about and understanding.

        well, additional points of view here -

phillip
   
* * * * * * * *
* *

The English noun "identity" comes, ultimately, from the
Latin adverb "identidem", which means "repeatedly."
The Latin has exactly the same rhythm as the English,
buh-BUM-buh-BUM - a simple iamb, repeated; and
"identidem" is, in fact, nothing more than a
reduplication of the word "idem", "the same":
"idem(et)idem". "Same(and) same". The same,
repeated. It is a word that does exactly what
it means.

                          from "The Elusive Embrace" by Daniel
Mendelsohn.

phillip white
third grade teacher
doctoral student http://ceo.cudenver.edu/~hacms_lab/index.htm
scrambling a dissertation
denver, colorado
phillip_white@ceo.cudenver.edu



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