1977, hc £10.00
B. M. G. Reardon, He”el’s Philosophy of Reliijon,
London, Macmillan, 1977, hc £ 8. 95
J.Rosenbaum, ed., Rivette: Texts and Interviews,
London, BFI, 1977, pb O. 75p
J. Schwartz, ed., The Subtle Anatomy of Capitalism,
Santa Monica, Calif., Goodyear Pub Co, 1977, pb
np
M. Smith, The Underground and Education, London,
Methuen, 1977, pb £1. 60
B. stroud, Hume, London, Routledge and Kegan Paul,
1977, hc £ 7. 50
C. Taylor,Hegel, London, Cambridge UP, 1975,
hc £13.50~
A. TOlson, The Limits of Masculinity, London,
Tavistock, 1977, pb £ 1. 95
J. Topolski, Methodology of History, Dordrecht,
D. Reiden, 1976, hc np
A. S. Vazquez, The Philosophy of Praxis, London,
Merlin Press, 1977, hc £7.50 pb £3.00
A. Wilden, SYstem and Structure: Essays in
Communication and Exchange, London, Tavistock,
1977, pb £5.25
Journals received
Cine-Tracts, vol.l, no. 1 , Spring 1977, Centre for
20th Century Studies, University of Wisconsin
Milwaukee
Economy and Socjety, vol. 6, no.2, May 1977
New Left Review 100 (November 1976-January 1977)
101/102 (February-April 1977)
103 (May-July 1977)
Philosophy Today, vol. 21, no.l/4, Spring 1977
no.2/4, Summer 1977
Ideology and Consciousness. no. 1 , May 1977
Science for the People, Vol. 9, no.2, Mar/Apr 1977
no. 3 , May/June 1977
no.4, July /Aug.1977
(Cambridge, USA)
MERIP Reports, No.58, June 1977, Middle East
Research and Information Project, Washington,
USA
news
Local groups
One of the primary functions of the News Section is
to provide information on local Radical Philosophy
Groups, both to enable local groups to keep in touch
with each other’s development and to give an overall
impression of our work to readers. However, at
present there is little information forthcoming.
Primarily this is because there are active local
groups in only two towns: Oxford and Bristol. In
the coming months of the new academic year,
Radical Philosophy will be launching a drive to
alter this situation. If you wish to begin a local
group in your area then you can gain assistance
(including a list of people involved with Radical
Philosophy willing to read papers on topics central
to our concerns) by contacting the new national
Local Groups organizer: Daniel Jeffreys, 52
Nightingale Lane, Clapham, London SW12. But why
have a local group? ‘Radical Philosophy’ is not
what one could accurately refer to as a movement
with a clear set of aims and objectives; however,
Radical Philosophy is decided on one thing: namely
that there is an ideological struggle to be fought;
that is what we try to do in the pages of this journal
and local group work can materially assist in this
fight. Furthermore Radical Philosophy has a certain
dependence upon local groups both for the work that
is written for the journal and for editing the work
that we publish – given that any local group that
comes into official existence is immediately involved
in editorial work (Bristol and Oxford groups are both
deeply involved in this way). Thus the more local
groups that come into existence, the more thorough
and responsive (to readers’ needs) our editorial
process; and hopefully the better our journal.
FESTIVALS – the Past and Future
Radical Philosophy held a festival in Bristol in
April this year. We are to hold another – this time
more honestly referred to as a conference – in
January of 1978 in Brighton (see elsewhere in this
issue for details). The Bristol festival was a
successful but low key affair compared with the
Oxford 1976 festival. There were few violent debates
on what exactly ‘Radical Philosophy’ is. The themes
of the festival were ‘Knowledge and Power’ and
‘Women in/and Philosophy’. One of the major crit-
icisms aimed at the festival was that these themes
did not surface in any way that would suggest they
were governing themes of the festival. The festival
had a comments book which received only two organisational comments (in stark contrast to the flood of
theoretical comments and criticisms which filled
the comments book at Oxford – this reflects the low
key nature of the festival).
The theme of the Brighton conference is ‘Philosophy and the Critique of Ideologies’. The organisational meetings held so far have been noteworthy for
the range of views on just what kind of material the
theme calls for. One strand is arguing for papers
dealing with the theory of ideology, another is atheoretical or even anti-theoretical, and simply
wants people who have experienced ideological
domination to describe their experience of it, and a
third group seeks to combine ‘theory’ and ‘practice’
in some way. John Krige, the conference co-ordinator, includes himself in this group. He sees the
ideal session as one in which the philosophical/conceptual presuppositions of ideological practices are
exposed and criticised. Room is to be made at the
festival for all three positions, although some
people feel it is wrong and evasive to tolerate all
three; but perhaps given Radical Philosophy’s
material position nothing better is possible.
Philosophy in schools
One of the positive things to come out of the Bristol
festival was awareness of the problems raised by
the phenomenon of Philosophy as a school subject,
brought about by the work of the French groups
GREPH and Grephon (See RP16 The Philosopher in
the Classroom – a report from France by Jonathan
R~e and C olin Gordon). A list of people interested
in forming a Radical Philosophy ‘Philosophy in
Schools’ group was compiled and there will be an
inaugural meeting for this group in London on
Saturday 29 October: a~semble in the foyer of the
London University Institute of Education, 20 Bedford
Way, London WCl at 10.30 for 11.00. The need to
examine this whole issue has recently been made
much more urgent by the introduction of several
institutions, e. g. Avery Hill of the International
41
Baccalaureat (a qualification with the same status
as ‘A’ levels in this country and valid in the universities of other countries as well). The Baccalaureat has a Theory of Enowledge element and if it
were to become widespread Radicals in Philosophy
would have to conduct the same kind of thorough
appraisal as that carried out by GREPH and
Grephon in France. To give us a head start, and
to monitor the progress of this new development,
the Radical Philosophy ‘Philosophy in Schools’
group will no doubt make the Baccalaureat a major
aspect of its early work. There will be a full report
from Avery Hill in the next issue of RP giving
. details of how the Theory of Knowledge element of
the course is progressing.
Diale~tics Project
It is hoped that a ·conference will be held in London
around Easter ·1978. Present plans include the issues
discussed recently in ‘Marxism Today’ and by the
Conference of Socialist Economists. The preparatory
work is being co-ordinated by John Allen, 18 Athel
stoneRoad, London N4 (01-272 9062). Comments and
suggestions on the conference, and on the “iability of
the project as a whole, are invited.
Nouveaux Philosophes
Recently papers such as the Observer and The Times
carried articles on a French phenomenon referred to
as the ‘nouveaux philosophes’. These are French
intellectuals who were deeply involved as militants
in the 1968 uprisings in France. The reason for the
title ‘nouveaux philosophes’ is that these people are
apparently questioning the assumptions of Marxism
in a radical way, arguing amongst other things that
Stalinism had its roots in original Marxism and did
not require the efforts of Lenin to put it there. It is
perhaps not unsurprising that such newspapers as
those mentioned above should give so much space to
the ideas of ‘nouveaux philosophes’. Radical
Philosophy intends to follow suit (but perhaps with
different motives) and the next issue will include a
detailed report on the ‘nouveaux philosophes’ and
their work, including the responses they have
elicited from those still willing to defend Marxism.
SWANSEA AGAIN
Remember the University College of Swansea affair
back in 1974? After three years of struggle by
students and a minority of the staff against the
narrow conservatism and authoritarianism of
Professor D. Z. Phillips’ Philosophy Department,
philosophy lecturer Mike Weston was sacked for
partiCipating in an ASTMS strike, and the student
campaign for syllabus reform was defeated.
Radical Philosophy ceased to have any presence in
Swansea at all.
Professor Phillips does not improve with time.
This summer he and three other members of the
University staff, including two philosophy lecturers
Mounce and Robertson, attended a subscription
dinner to listen to Enoch Powell, at a cost of £ 5 a
head. Swansea student protests against this action
were limited because of the timing at the end of the
academic year, but are expected to be stepped up
considerably when the new term opens. There are
also moves afoot in Swansea Trades Council for a
request to be made to the University for formal
assurances that, even with lecturers like that on
the campus, black students are in no danger of
being discriminated against.
42
A Radical Philosophy half-day school will be held
at SWansea on Tuesday 18 October, on the subject
·of ‘Racism in Philosophy’, with Rip Bulkeley and
other speakers. For details, please contact Tariq
Mod Q(xti, Department of Philosophy, University
College of SWansea, Swansea.
News from Oxford
The news item produced for the last issue of RP
failed to appear, and thus there are two terms’
activities to report. In the spring term, the Oxford
Radical Philosophy Group arranged a series of
seminars on the philosophical tradition, as represented by the standard Oxford practices of teaching
philosophy. There were· also four independent meetings, with Mike Rosen speaking on Hegel, Roger
Waterhouse on Heidegger, Madam Sarup on Lukacs,
and Tim Mitchell on Lacan. In addition the discussion
groups on Marx: Capital volume 1 and on Hegel:
Shorter Logic were continued from the previous
term, and a group started reading Kant: Critique of
Judgement. These were continued the following term,
with the Marx group progressing to volume 2. The
series of seminars was a more ambitious project than ,
had been previously attempted. It was designed not
simply to clarify our own pOSition in relation to the
official tradition, but also to establish the basis for a
critique of the given interpretation and appropriation
of that tradition. The meetings were well-attended and
partially successful. J onathan Ree spoke on Descartes
Colin Gordon on Spinoza, Joanna Hodge on Locke, Rip
Bulkeley on Hobbes, and on Berkeley, Alex
Callinicos on Hume, and Mike Rosen on Kant. As
a result of the success of the series it was planned to
hold a similar series on an alternative tradition in
the summer term.
Since no-one in the Philosophy Raculty was prepared
to give the required lectures in post -Kantian philosophy, ORPG offered to arrange a series of seminars
in that area under the title ‘Twentieth Century
Continental Philosophy’, which appeared on the
official lecture list. After extensive discussions
within the group, two possible series were constructed:
.one in semiotiCS, covering the development from
Saussure and Jakobsen, to Levi-Strauss, Lacan,
Foucault, Barthes, Deleuze, and Derrida; the other
on herPleneutics, covering the development from
Dilthey, Husserl and Heidegger, to Gadamer,
Habermas, Apel and Ricoeur. It was decided to
present the second series under the title: ‘History and
Understanding: An Introduction to Hermeneutics’, and
to start planning the semiotics series for the autumn
term. The introduction to the series, situating the
project of hermeneutics in Dilthey’s appropriation of
Kant and Hegel, was given by Joanna Hodge, under
the title: ‘Dilthey and the wrong direction in which to
develop hermeneutics’. Roger Waterhouse spoke 00
Husserl and on Heidegger; Ronnie Beiner introduced
Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics; Russell Keat
spoke on Habermas; Tim Mitchell on Ricoeur; and
Eckart Ftsrster on Karl-Otto Apel and transcendental
pragmatics. After a very large first week audience,
the level stabilised at around thirty people. Since the
end of the serIes a piece entitled ‘Hermeneutics and
Anthropology’ by J oanna Hodge has appeared in the
·Journal of the Anthropological Society of Oxford
vol. 8 no. 2, questioning the coherence and unity of
the hermeneutical tradition, in order to avoid the uncritical substitutioo of a German academic tradition
for British analytical philosophy. Tim MitcheU and
Colin Gordon are organising ~he semiotics series for
i
Radical Philosophy
Conference
Brighton
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See overleaf for details
43
PHILOSOPHY AND THE CRITIQUE
OF IDEOLOGY
RADICAL PHILOSOPHY CONFERENCE
FALMER HOUSE, SUSSEX UNIVERSITY, BRIGHTON
6-8 JANUARY 1978.
Registration between 4 and 7pm on Friday 6th Jan.
Please Register in advance using the form below
.”A…A.. Seafront .A.A. A. A
The Workshop Papers offered to date include:
A.
.A.
A
‘Racism in Philosophy’ – Rip Bu1ke1ey
‘Political Ideology in the Weimar Republic’ – Co1in Gordon
‘Individualisms and Co11ectivisms’ – Andrew Collier
‘Fetishism and Ideology’ – Nick Rose
‘The Recuperation of Marxist Terminology’ – Gayatri Spivak
‘Ideological Conceptions of Ideology: History of an Error’ – Graham Burchell
‘Science, Ideology and the Dialectic of Nature’ – Ted Benton
‘Engels’ Contribution to Marxism’ – Gareth Stedman-Jones
‘Feminist Historiography’ – Charmian Kenner
‘Education for Industry’ – Roy Edgley
‘Reform and Revolution in Popper’s Epistemology’ – John Krige
‘Abstract Philosophy and Concrete Critique’ – Tony Skillen
(further offers are invited)
PLUS: .THEATRE, MUSIC, FILMS, GAMES, SPORTS ……. .
RADICAL PHILOSOPHY CONFERENCE REGISTRATION FORM
Name …………………….. Address ………………………………….. .
Do you need Accomodation ….. ? We are offering two types, please indicate
which you would prefer: Free Crash Accomodation, bring sleeping bag if
possible …… ?, or Bed and Breakfast in Guest House at approx. £, 2. SO
per night.” .•.. ?-Do you need a Creche? If so, no ….. ? and ages ……… ? of children.
(The Creche will only be available during the day on Saturday and Sunday)
Lunch (Sat. and Sun.) and Dinner (Fri and Sat.) will be available at
reasonable prices.
Registration Fee: £, 2.00 Students and Claimants; £3.00 all others.
(This includes a subsidy for food)
I Enclose ……•. for ……. person(s).(Cheques payable to RADICAL PHILOSOPHY)
Send this form to Conference Co-Ordinator: John Krige
HSSS, MAPS
Sussex University
Fa1mer Brighton
44
.A-
this term, under the title ‘Structure Sign and
whole issue of the claim of anybody to be ‘uninvolvea~
Discourse’. For further information contact Colin
with politics. Crudely put, looked at from the
Gordon, 16 Cranham Terrace, Oxford (50626).
Yugoslavian point of view, it is arguable that Dr
The ORPG has also become involved in course
Pivcevic had already acted in a clearly political way
reform, and the absence of courses in Twentieth
firstly by opting out of Yugoslavian socfe~, and
CenturY Continental Philosophy has again become
secondly by refusing to act on their behalf, before
an issue. As a result of undergraduate representathey took their ‘political’ decision to expel him.
tions for the introduction of such courses, a special
However, whatever the merits or demerits of these
sub-committee to the Sub-Faculty of Philosophy on
thoughts it is hard, prima facie, on the issue of
the teaching of them was set up. This sub-commfttee freedom of movement and opinion to see anything
,else-but unfairness in the Yugoslavian government’s
consists of nine members, the three graduate
members being Colin Gordon, Joanna Hodge and
treatment of Dr Pivcevic. Even though it is easy to
Mike Rosen. This committee has now reported to the see Dr Pivcevic’s conception of politics as naive
Sub-Faculty, and is awaiting developments. Meanwhile one cannot but wish him success in his appeal;
we would be grateful for information on how continental particularly as he still has relatives in Yugoslavia.
philosophy is taught, and how-that teaching was
started, in other philosophy departments.
Philosophy abroad
Dr Edo Pivcevic
The next issue of Radical Philosophy will see the
start (in this COlumn) of a new series, short
Dr Edo Pivcevic is a senior lecturer in Philosophy
reports under this heading detailing the experiences
at the University of Bristol. He has recently been
of philosophy students in countries other than
expelled from Yugoslavia by the police with his pass- Britain. The first will be from Brazil and the seport stamped ‘The holder of this passport must leave cond from France. Any readers who wish to conYugoslavia before midnight on August 15th 1977 and
tribute should send a report of 200 -400 words to
must not return until August 16th 1982’ after refusing the News Editor (address below).
to spy on fellow Yugoslavian emigres (Dr Pivcevic
ANTI-GOULD
emigrated through normal channels in 1958). Dr
Pivcevic has been informed by a Yugoslavian lawyer Professor Julius Gould’s notorious Report on the
marxist fifth column in Britain’s academies is
that the police action was illegal because no reason
reported as citing Radical Philosophy among the
for his expUlsion was given. He has prepared a
symptoms of this pernicious phenomenon. We will
report for the home office in an attempt to get the
comment on Gould’s findings in our next issue. Meanorder revised. Dr Pivcevic has told me that he
while, the Campaign for Academic Freedom and Demowishes to publicise the case not only to increase his
cracy (also denounced by the Report as a leftist
chances of having the order reversed, but also befront organisation) is holding its AGM at the LSE
cause of ‘the widespread and too easily accepted
on December 17th as a conference on the theme :
“Where does the Gould Report come from ?”. The meetbelief’ that Yugoslavia is a ‘liberalised’ Communist
ing is open to all. Details will be announcep in
country. When ‘arrested’ Dr. Pivcevic was taken to
the press, and can be obtained from CAFD, 186 Kings
the police station by a plain clothes policeman and
Cross Road, London WC1.
interrogated there by a member of the security
forces. Dr Pivcevic made inquiries after the interview to discover this person’s identity, but nobody
Dialectic and Working Class History
at the police station could remember his name.
As part of the R.P. Dialectic Project, Tim Putman,
‘I was rather upset because I had not broken any
Ann Philipson and Jonat~n Ree are investigating
laws’ said Dr Piv.cevic ‘Then he raised the subject
the role of philosophy in working class education in
of supplying information about Yugoslavian emigres
Britai~ in the 20’s and 30’s. Their research is
in Britain who were engaged in political activity
centred around the work of Fred Casey, Tommy Jackson
and the National Council of Labour Colleges and
against Yugoslavia. I pointed out that I had deliberCommunist Party. The study involves use of various
ately kept out of politics, that I kne w nothing about
sources including interviews and contemporary
their activities and that I couldn’t give them any
documentation. Any suggestions or clues on how this
information even if I wanted to. There is only one
investigation could be pursued would be most welcome.
conclusion that can be drawn from this – that he
Write to Jonathan Ree, Middlesex Polytechnic, The
wanted me to spy on Yugoslav emigres in Britain. ‘
Burroughs, London NW4 4BT.
Dr Pivcevic became angry and as he was leaving
the station, the other man warned: ‘If you are going
NEWS EDITOR: If you need to contact the News
to behave like that, we have ways of dealing with
Editor of Radical Philosophy for any reason the
you.’ Later the same day two policemen came and
address is: ‘Daniel Jeffreys, 52 Nightingale Lane,
stamped his passport giving as a reason that he had
Clapham, London -sW12
not registered his visit properly with the police.
The Long March
This af!air raises interesting questions around the
Th~
Red Army is not afraid of hardship on the
march, the long march.
Ten thousand waters and a thousand mountains are
nothing.
The Five Sierras meander like small waves,
the summits of Wumeng pour on the plain like balls
of clay.
Cliffs under clouds are warm and washed below by
the River Gold · Sand.
Iron chains are cold, reaching ‘over Tatu River.
The far snows of Minshan only make us happy
and when the army pushes through, we all laugh.
Reproduced in : Portugal: The Impossible Revolution?
by Phil Mailer, Solidarity, London 1976.
Mao Tse-Tung, October 1935
Trans. Willis Barnstone
45