Re: Postmodernism and Truth (was Re: virus: Simulacrum)

Ken Pantheists (kenpan@axionet.com)
Sat, 18 May 1996 10:35:27 +0000


Bill Godby wrote:
>
> Hegel
> accepts the idea that ultimate reality, and by inference truth, is in the
> Mind (minds of many not just one, he speaks of "geist" or spirit) and that
> we never get to know the "thing in itself" (physical reality) because it is
> always mediated by the mind. I find Hegel very much on my side of this
> discussion regarding truth and would be interested in how you see Hegel
> supporting your views, since you make reference to a Hegalian synthesis of
> religion and evolution, which apparently also entails an objective truth.

I would have to agree with Brad here. With my limited exposure to Hegel
I will have to go with what seems to make sense in his statement- and
that is a dynamic relationship between thesis and antithesis.

I had forgotten about Geist Brad- thanks for bringing it up.

Funny thing- I've started my reading on irony. I've nibbled away at
Stable and unstable ironies as well as finite and infinite irony. Geist
fits into it because irony illuminates a truth that is held only in the
mind of the reader of that irony. It presents a Geist.

An irony is any discourse that requires reconstruction by the reader and
inference of the author's position based on that reconstruction.

He uses the following example (which I love, living here in rainy
Vancouver).

A walks into a room, he is dripping wet. He says "Do you think it will
rain today?"

You can see the inferred truth in the statement.

That was way off topic, but I thought I'd mention it because way back
when I joined the list I said I was interested in Irony as cultural
discourse. Some of you responded with excellent suggestions for reading
and angles of approach.

-- 
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Ken Pantheists           http://www.lucifer.com/~kenpan           
Virus Theatre            http://www.lucifer.com/virus/theatre   
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