Hi all.
I'm assuming that the freedom/responsibility discussion does relate in some
way to Ilyenkov, so I wanted to explore whether I could understand how. (I
know it spun off, but still...) Might it be seen as a case study in the
ways ideality operates in activity and social relations? There is this
sign/concept "freedom" that exists independent of any of our thinking, that
predates our existence, that has no material presence, and that carries with
it (but represses, abbreviates, enfolds) a history of relations and
activity. One question that arises for me about Ilyenkov is to what degree
is the ideal universal or local? "Freedom" in the US and "Freiheit" in
Germany surely aren't at all the same, as some have pointed out. And
"freedom" in the US is not identical across contexts, either. So is
Ilyenkov's notion of the ideal situated in particular contexts or is it
something that transcends those contexts? I tend to think that ideality is
really instantiated in very particular conversations and that the
intersubjectvity necessary to sustain the Ideal has to be continually
re-negotiated. Consequently, philosophical explorations of notions like
"freedom" can only be partial, and we can only see their consequences if we
are working to solve together some particular pragmatic problem, like, say,
what side to take on legislation regarding abortion, or how to respond to
the situation of Afghani women, or how to set up a classroom.
Also, people invoke and employ terms that signify ideal concepts always and
only in social action. Like people use "freedom" as they negotiate
relationships along the lines of who gets to play the role of being right,
who gets to correct whose discourse, who can claim a transcendent voice, who
remains silent to signal their disinterest. I don't remember this point in
Ilyenkov, but it seems like the ideal not only carries material history
hidden behind it but also is always named in the new making of new social
and material history. I imagine that was behind Helena's earlier question
about whom Ilyenkov was writing for and what the conversation was like, to
re-situate his signification of the ideality of "ideality" within social
activity.
That's what I'm thinking about...
Randy
----------------------------
Randy Bomer
Language Education
Indiana University
201 N. Rose Ave.
Bloomington, IN 47405
(812) 856-8293
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