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« Defining 'manhood,' translating 'latte' | Main | Arnold makes eyes at Mass. » Monday, November 20, 2006Contra PhilosophywatchA reader named Dan Parker accuses me of hypocrisy, because I write this "Philosophywatch" feature for Brainiac, but *gasp* sometimes mention intellectuals and philosophers in my own writing. Here's what Parker wrote in an email yesterday: [Here's you Sept. 11, 2006:] Once upon a time, I dreamed up and co-edited a column called Philosophywatch, which kept a sharp eye on the MSM for gratuitous references to philosophers, theorists, critics, and artists. Dragging Sartre and Martin Amis into a CD review is the definition of bathos, if you ask me, and it still cracks me up when magazine and newspaper writers do stuff like that. [Here's you June 27, 2006, at snotty Slate:] Thinkers like Michel Foucault, Gilles Deleuze, and Felix Guattari offered up theories of how social control was now exercised not through class domination but increasingly subtle mechanisms. In 1972, for example, Deleuze and Guattari claimed in Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia that Westerners have been "oedipalized" (normalized, trained to desire their own repression) at home, at school, and at work. [etc.] A common misconception about "Philosophywatch," I've found, is that its author must be opposed to any and every use of an important thinker or writer's name in print. Not so! I'm ticked off (or amused) when magazine and newspaper writers drag such names into their prose without offering any meaningful context, just to show off -- or for comical effect. But as readers of "Philosophywatch" know, I will sometimes defend a writer's decision to mention a philosopher... if it strikes me as an un-gratuitous mention. That said, today's (forthcoming) installment of "Philosophywatch," the 10th since I started penning it for Brainiac, will be the last for a while. The holiday season is upon us, and this feature requires a lot of work. Also, I have some other ideas for weekly Brainiac features that I may want to explore. So... stay tuned! Posted by Joshua Glenn at 09:38 AM
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