Extras archive

But even given this and many other preconditions – of which the careful reading of one anothers’ texts must be the most important – it may be that there is a limit soon reached where nothing more can be yielded, and nothing more defined; and it would be plausible to conjecture that those very reasons […]

LETTERS Dear .Bf., I am sure that readers of RP respect the tenacity and courage with which the philosopher Julius Tomin resisted the brutality and irrationality of Czech totalitarianism. Clearly the significance for Oxbridge philosophy of even its limited contact with aspects of the situation of Czech philosophy goes far beyond what Martin Walker’s journalistic […]

CORRESPONDENCE ‘The Sceptical Feminist’ Dear Radical Philosophy, r r I should like to comment on Janet Radcliffe Richards’ reply to my review of her book, The Sceptical Feminist, which appeared in RP30. Richards says that I have seriously misrepresented her position, and that most of the quotations I use to support my view of her […]

very often suggested a pro-Derrida line, but one could hardly call it a case of unqualified support. It was a fascinating experience to observe him wrestling with deconstructionism in his conference-ending lecture, as it is too in his recent book on Samuel Richardson, The Rape of CZarissa (Oxford, 1982). Eagleton clearly feels there are major […]

CORRESPON DENCE Philosophy and Feminism Dear Radical Philosophy, In her article on The Sceptical Feminist, Jean Grimshaw describes my position as an enfeebled and unviable thing, scarcely worth the name of feminism. In one sense I hardly blame her. The position she describes seems to me all that and more: I should even call it […]

CORRESPONDENCE For Lacan Dear Radical Philosophy, l I John Bird’s article on Lacan (RP 30) was so vehement that some response is necessary. But replying to Bird raises a problem. Bird has pitted himself against Lacan, and this makes any reply seem to speak for Lacan – a role it is impossible to fulfill. The […]

CORRESPONDENCE Dear Radical Philosophy, < Oh, come on Jennifer Todd (RP 28), why don't you stop flogging a dead horse. There's no point in making political art; there's just no meat left – the flies have taken .it all. It's all been consumed away, turned into culture and thrown back at us as another form […]

COMMENT Racism • a Problem for Action and Thought St Pauls, Brixton, Southall, Toxteth: these explosions can tell us a lot if we know how to listen. Politicians’ attempts to present them as ‘mindless hooliganism’ don’t seem to work very well. For these events are at least signs that black communities are no longer prepared […]

Analyse und Kritik Anton Leist * & Kritik is a new journal for the sciences in West Germany. In the following article, Anton Leist, one of its editors, explains the editorial aims. Analyse sO~lal I Historical background During the 1960s the social sciences in West Germany were, in Kuhn’s phrase, in a state of ‘crisis’; […]

Cutler on Laws of Tendency Ted Bentan Some Notes on Cutler et.al. on Laws of Tendency (Cutler et.al., Marx’s Capital and Capitalism Today, Vol.I, chapters 4, 5 and 6.) Cutler et.al. declare themselves opposed to the epistemological privileging of any level of discourse, but prefer, instead, to engage in discursive analyses of specific problems. Nevertheless, […]

CORRESPONDENCE Afghanistan and the Left Dear Radical Philosophy, The Afghan crisis has revealed the real contours of the international political landscape. Though there is (as yet) no consensus regarding what measures should be taken in response to this crisis, a cry has echoed throughout the non-Soviet world in outright condemnation of the Russian presence. The […]

can also draw on a vertical account of the development of structures of interaction. Despite this enrichment, however, critical theory – in so far as it is a theory of contemporary society – retains its essentially historical and practical nature (12). The question whether McCarthy is correct in believing that Habermas’ later writings do represent […]

SCIENTifiC SOCIALISM, Jl POSITIVIST DELUSION? Russell Reat In Radical Philosophy 21, Roy Edgley replied to some criticisms I made, in RP16, of his article on ‘Science, Social Science, and Socialist Science’ in RP15. I don’t finj his comments at all convincing, and I will try to say why. At the end, I will briefly indicate […]

‘ON PRACTICE’ III · Reply 10 NOI’. .aD *” Rip Bulkeley Richard Norman may have some cause to complain of my coyness and reluctance to set out my own ideas. But fo r my part, I think he might have been less hasty in constructing my position for me. For I wholly agree with him […]

DIALICTIC: A RIPLY TO KIAT A.ND DBWS RoyEdgley In an article in Radical Philosophy 15, ‘Science, Social Science, and Socialist Science: Reason as Dialectic’, I argued that one of the central doctrines of dialectical materialism, that there are contradictions in reality, and with it the claim that science can be critical of its real object, […]

DISCUSSION or ON ‘ON PRACTICE’ Richard Norman Rip Bulkeley’s criticisms of Mao’s ‘On Practice’ (Radical Philosophy 18) raise again issues which were discussed by Peter Binns and Andrew Collier in R P4 and 5 (and indeed, as far as I can make out, his position seemS to ~e very close to that put forward by […]

AN EDITOR SPEAKS J onathan Ree’ s ‘Editorial’ in R P2 0 des cribes itself as a ‘farewell performance’ written to mark his retirement as the magazine’s editorial secretary. Since the piece is a personal, occasional statement, it may seem officious to take up further space merely in order to indicate that this Editorial’s views […]

Notes This issue of Radical Philosophy appears in a situation where the interests of both its writers and readers are under threat. Not only is philosophy being threatened as a result of the economic crisis, but the philosophical frameworks used by radical groups over the last decade are directly under attack: the Open University is […]

J~ader.s Meeting A second RP readers’ and editors’ meeting to discuss articles appearing in this issue will be held on 20 June at 8 pm in the upstairs room of ·the Lamb and Flag, Rose street, London WC2 (off Long Acre, between Covent Garden and Leicester Square tube stations). Lette.. f..om r ….ca (The authors […]

Much of Roy Edgley’s article in RP 15 is concerned with showing how there can be logical contradictions in (social) reality. But this takes place in the context of giving an acceptable sense to Marxism’s selfdescription as scientific socialism. I get the impression that Roy regards his way of dealing with the former issue as […]

Pale.. Rabbil aDd Ihe GJlaDdrlsse Rosa and Charley Parkin There can be no such thing as an innocent reading of the Tale of Peter Rabbit. As that. most percipient analyst of the later manuscripts, Enid Blyton. puts it: ‘We must pose this work the question of the specificity of its object, its relation to its […]