I am sure he did not mean to remind me of one of men's classic
arguments from the 18th and 19th centuries against the education
of women: that it would divert their energies from the essential
business of being mothers, that it was dangerous to the success
of their natural and essential role as mothers (of their sons).
Eugene's warning, however, does not disturb me on its own terms.
He seems to assume that it is relatively easy to consciously
override a practice that is supported by the deep habitus of
enculturation. I do not think this is what happens. No matter how
sophisticated my analytical critique of, say, class divergences
and their ideology, I am not likely to be able to avoid being
typically middle-class in the way I use language (at a
statistical level, for example). My experiments and deliberate
deviations will be a small, probably non-significant drop in the
bucket, especially in a long-term matter like relations with
children. Here perhaps is my conservatism: not that we need to
beware of dangerous experiments going against proven traditions,
but that it is nearly impossible to override these traditions
where they really matter.
What I think more likely happens as Judy describes it, is that
there is a typical 'doubling of vision' through discourse (the
analytical, deliberate perspective), so that while we _do_ just
like our possibly more naive fellows, we _interpret_ what we do
not just in the conventional frame, but also in our new
analytical one. And maybe we occasionally mess up because of lack
of singular vision, but this is a small price, because I doubt
such oddities are consistent enough to matter in the long run (or
are even targeted on the deep-structures that do matter), and a
small enough price to pay for the critical reflexivity which
double-vision makes possible. I am not optimistic that our
scientific theories point the way to vastly superior everyday
practices in these matters. But I am optimistic that they can
keep us from sleeping too soundly in our faith in tradition. JAY.
JAY LEMKE.
City University of New York.
BITNET: JLLBC who-is-at CUNYVM
INTERNET: JLLBC who-is-at CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU