Pub Date : 2022-05-30DOI: 10.25159/2413-3086/10811
B. Olivier
We live in a time of major events in civilisational history, currently centred on the so-called Covid-19 “pandemic.” In this global context, contemporary people are at the mercy, largely, of powerful media companies that disseminate officially sanctioned news and opinion pieces about all aspects pertaining to the “pandemic.” The very same thing that makes this mainstream media hegemony possible, however, namely the Internet, also allows alternative news sources to circulate censored news and critical opinion so that one witnesses an information and communication-divide on a scale never seen before in history. This paper sets out to reconstruct this information and communication chasm with reference to representative instances of each of the adversarial sides in what may be called a “war of information” and attempts to make this intelligible by interpreting these mainly through the theoretical lens of Jacques Derrida, supplemented by a coda enlisting Jürgen Habermas’s work on communication. While the latter does foresee the possibility of authentic communication (“communicative action”) despite the constant spectre of miscommunication (“strategic action”), Derrida is less optimistic about this. Instead, taking his cue from Joyce’s Ulysses, he insists that the very means of “reaching” the other in the act of communicating are also, ineluctably, the means for failing to reach them, and that “receiving” a message from someone can thus either result in a mechanical repetition of the message, or a paradoxical “repeating differently.” Moreover, elsewhere he indicates the paradoxical implications of a change of “context” as far as an utterance is concerned. This difference between these two thinkers allows one to get an intellectual grip on the situation unfolding in the world in 2021–2022; a world of ubiquitous information exchanges, implicitly claiming to be communicational exchanges. More specifically, Derrida and Habermas equip one with the communication-theoretical means to ascertain what this plethora of information exchanges amounts to.
{"title":"Massive Deception Masquerading as Information and Communication: A (largely) Derridean Perspective","authors":"B. Olivier","doi":"10.25159/2413-3086/10811","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25159/2413-3086/10811","url":null,"abstract":"We live in a time of major events in civilisational history, currently centred on the so-called Covid-19 “pandemic.” In this global context, contemporary people are at the mercy, largely, of powerful media companies that disseminate officially sanctioned news and opinion pieces about all aspects pertaining to the “pandemic.” The very same thing that makes this mainstream media hegemony possible, however, namely the Internet, also allows alternative news sources to circulate censored news and critical opinion so that one witnesses an information and communication-divide on a scale never seen before in history. This paper sets out to reconstruct this information and communication chasm with reference to representative instances of each of the adversarial sides in what may be called a “war of information” and attempts to make this intelligible by interpreting these mainly through the theoretical lens of Jacques Derrida, supplemented by a coda enlisting Jürgen Habermas’s work on communication. While the latter does foresee the possibility of authentic communication (“communicative action”) despite the constant spectre of miscommunication (“strategic action”), Derrida is less optimistic about this. Instead, taking his cue from Joyce’s Ulysses, he insists that the very means of “reaching” the other in the act of communicating are also, ineluctably, the means for failing to reach them, and that “receiving” a message from someone can thus either result in a mechanical repetition of the message, or a paradoxical “repeating differently.” Moreover, elsewhere he indicates the paradoxical implications of a change of “context” as far as an utterance is concerned. This difference between these two thinkers allows one to get an intellectual grip on the situation unfolding in the world in 2021–2022; a world of ubiquitous information exchanges, implicitly claiming to be communicational exchanges. More specifically, Derrida and Habermas equip one with the communication-theoretical means to ascertain what this plethora of information exchanges amounts to.","PeriodicalId":42048,"journal":{"name":"Phronimon","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48023045","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-04-06DOI: 10.25159/2413-3086/10503
Casper Lötter
I explore the ANC government’s cadre-based (BBBEE/Broad-based Black economic empowerment) narrative in restructuring the economy amidst the pandemic, as an ideological vehicle to achieve an unstated nefarious purpose. The narrative that I aim to capture through the lenses of Naomi Klein’s disaster capitalism read with Reiman’s “pyrrhic defeat theory,” is built around the fictitious idea of Black economic empowerment. Ultimately it serves as a vehicle for fraudulent personal enrichment by politicians and well-connected tenderpreneurs. This double theoretical vision is meant to augment and explain the opportunity that the Covid-pandemic provided for its exploitation as an example of disaster capitalism. I traverse the events which led to the current global pandemic as well as the way or ways in which a faction within government and its institutions has generally colluded with Big Business to profit from it. I consider the South African government’s initial response to the pandemic as well as the ways in which such a response morphed into a self-enrichment scheme under the guise of BBBEE. This remains plausible even if one concedes that this purpose was not by original design or is solely driven by a faction within the ruling party. This discussion is preceded by an overview of the VBS Mutual Bank fraud scandal, foreshadowing my demonstration of how the pandemic proffers an opportunity for the RET-group within government to transform into a criminal shadow state as a going concern. In conclusion, I draw on the Covid-19 experience to suggest lessons for the future economic management of pandemics.
{"title":"Does Economic Restructuring during Covid-19 in South Africa amount to Disaster Capitalism?","authors":"Casper Lötter","doi":"10.25159/2413-3086/10503","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25159/2413-3086/10503","url":null,"abstract":"I explore the ANC government’s cadre-based (BBBEE/Broad-based Black economic empowerment) narrative in restructuring the economy amidst the pandemic, as an ideological vehicle to achieve an unstated nefarious purpose. The narrative that I aim to capture through the lenses of Naomi Klein’s disaster capitalism read with Reiman’s “pyrrhic defeat theory,” is built around the fictitious idea of Black economic empowerment. Ultimately it serves as a vehicle for fraudulent personal enrichment by politicians and well-connected tenderpreneurs. This double theoretical vision is meant to augment and explain the opportunity that the Covid-pandemic provided for its exploitation as an example of disaster capitalism. I traverse the events which led to the current global pandemic as well as the way or ways in which a faction within government and its institutions has generally colluded with Big Business to profit from it. I consider the South African government’s initial response to the pandemic as well as the ways in which such a response morphed into a self-enrichment scheme under the guise of BBBEE. This remains plausible even if one concedes that this purpose was not by original design or is solely driven by a faction within the ruling party. This discussion is preceded by an overview of the VBS Mutual Bank fraud scandal, foreshadowing my demonstration of how the pandemic proffers an opportunity for the RET-group within government to transform into a criminal shadow state as a going concern. In conclusion, I draw on the Covid-19 experience to suggest lessons for the future economic management of pandemics.","PeriodicalId":42048,"journal":{"name":"Phronimon","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-04-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46838591","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-04-06DOI: 10.25159/2413-3086/10075
Jennalee Donian
South Africa’s transition to a democratic state in 1994, with its liberalised free-speech policies and race-based reforms, had an immediate and transformative effect on comedy. There was a massive increase in the establishment of comedy clubs and festivals, the production of comic media-like sitcoms and films, and more recently, the expansion of new forms of online and digital humour (via YouTube channels and podcasts), as well as the racial diversification of comic talent. Amid this comic revolution, this article identifies the specific, distinctive character of post-apartheid comedy in South Africa, exploring the ways in which the content, style and delivery of humour produced by Black comics differ from those constructed by White comics. It contends that, while the former increasingly engage with issues of race, culture and politics with unprecedented candour, such taboo-breaking moratorium is antithetical to (most) contemporary White comics, whose performances—across various platforms—are marked by jocund humour and political (albeit not always socio-cultural) disavowal. Furthermore, it explores the extent to which these race-based comic trends are influenced by, respond to and negotiate both the vestiges of the past and current racial-social-political discourses. Albeit in a vastly distinct way, this article concludes that the humour produced by these comics—irreverent and subversive versus conservative and facetious—nevertheless allows them (and by extension society) to negotiate the vestiges of the past and the disquiets of the present in order to serve the overarching drive of promoting social cohesion and healing.
{"title":"Laughing Along Racial Lines: Humour in Post-Apartheid South Africa","authors":"Jennalee Donian","doi":"10.25159/2413-3086/10075","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25159/2413-3086/10075","url":null,"abstract":"South Africa’s transition to a democratic state in 1994, with its liberalised free-speech policies and race-based reforms, had an immediate and transformative effect on comedy. There was a massive increase in the establishment of comedy clubs and festivals, the production of comic media-like sitcoms and films, and more recently, the expansion of new forms of online and digital humour (via YouTube channels and podcasts), as well as the racial diversification of comic talent. Amid this comic revolution, this article identifies the specific, distinctive character of post-apartheid comedy in South Africa, exploring the ways in which the content, style and delivery of humour produced by Black comics differ from those constructed by White comics. It contends that, while the former increasingly engage with issues of race, culture and politics with unprecedented candour, such taboo-breaking moratorium is antithetical to (most) contemporary White comics, whose performances—across various platforms—are marked by jocund humour and political (albeit not always socio-cultural) disavowal. Furthermore, it explores the extent to which these race-based comic trends are influenced by, respond to and negotiate both the vestiges of the past and current racial-social-political discourses. Albeit in a vastly distinct way, this article concludes that the humour produced by these comics—irreverent and subversive versus conservative and facetious—nevertheless allows them (and by extension society) to negotiate the vestiges of the past and the disquiets of the present in order to serve the overarching drive of promoting social cohesion and healing.","PeriodicalId":42048,"journal":{"name":"Phronimon","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-04-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42066398","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper challenges the dominant notion that globalisation has a neutral “win-win” outlook and the generalisation of “equal gains” and “equal pains” for all countries. The paper provides the dominant narrative on dimensions of globalisation but also dwells more on the global dichotomy approach in understanding this phenomenon. Drawing on analysis of secondary information, this paper examines the paradoxical problem of contested framing of the phenomenon and how it affects sub-Saharan African society. It distinguishes between the Western-oriented and sub-Saharan African perspectives in framing globalisation, which is a departure from the three other dominant narratives. Through a synthesis of available information and the author’s lived experience, this paper confirms that globalisation is not a neutral “win-win” phenomenon but a being that brings disproportionate gain and pain to the detriment of sub-Saharan Africa in numerous social spheres, as demonstrated in this paper. Based on the realities, mitigating approaches are proffered for African future development and social progress.
{"title":"Globalisation Paradoxes in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Social Reality in Eclipse","authors":"E. Obioha","doi":"10.25159/2413-3086/7530","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25159/2413-3086/7530","url":null,"abstract":"This paper challenges the dominant notion that globalisation has a neutral “win-win” outlook and the generalisation of “equal gains” and “equal pains” for all countries. The paper provides the dominant narrative on dimensions of globalisation but also dwells more on the global dichotomy approach in understanding this phenomenon. Drawing on analysis of secondary information, this paper examines the paradoxical problem of contested framing of the phenomenon and how it affects sub-Saharan African society. It distinguishes between the Western-oriented and sub-Saharan African perspectives in framing globalisation, which is a departure from the three other dominant narratives. Through a synthesis of available information and the author’s lived experience, this paper confirms that globalisation is not a neutral “win-win” phenomenon but a being that brings disproportionate gain and pain to the detriment of sub-Saharan Africa in numerous social spheres, as demonstrated in this paper. Based on the realities, mitigating approaches are proffered for African future development and social progress.","PeriodicalId":42048,"journal":{"name":"Phronimon","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42964866","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Contemporary discussions in African metaphysics or ontology seem to be indifferent to the place of force in the African thought. This is the case because of two reasons, viz, the rejection of or indifference to ethnophilosophy and the misrepresentation of force ontology by Placide Tempels, by equating force in African thought with being in classical Aristotelian-Thomistic metaphysics. In this essay, I examine the relation between being and force in the African worldview by exploring the conception of being according to Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas and Tempels’s conception of force in Bantu ontology. Contrary to Tempels’s claim that being and force are equivalent or identical in African ontology, I argue that what is called “being” in classical metaphysics is best rendered as “thing” in most African languages. As such, being is that which subsists in itself and cannot be identical with force, which inheres in things. Hence, I affirm that force is a key attribute of being or thing and so is a transcendental property of being since force is a positive attribute of all beings, whether animate or inanimate. My approach in this essay is both exploratory and explanatory.
{"title":"Being and Force: An Exploration in Classical and African Metaphysics","authors":"P. Aleke","doi":"10.25159/2413-3086/8957","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25159/2413-3086/8957","url":null,"abstract":"Contemporary discussions in African metaphysics or ontology seem to be indifferent to the place of force in the African thought. This is the case because of two reasons, viz, the rejection of or indifference to ethnophilosophy and the misrepresentation of force ontology by Placide Tempels, by equating force in African thought with being in classical Aristotelian-Thomistic metaphysics. In this essay, I examine the relation between being and force in the African worldview by exploring the conception of being according to Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas and Tempels’s conception of force in Bantu ontology. Contrary to Tempels’s claim that being and force are equivalent or identical in African ontology, I argue that what is called “being” in classical metaphysics is best rendered as “thing” in most African languages. As such, being is that which subsists in itself and cannot be identical with force, which inheres in things. Hence, I affirm that force is a key attribute of being or thing and so is a transcendental property of being since force is a positive attribute of all beings, whether animate or inanimate. My approach in this essay is both exploratory and explanatory.","PeriodicalId":42048,"journal":{"name":"Phronimon","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47819248","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Comedy during the apartheid era was an integral medium for indoctrination and pacification. It was also a key instrument through which the apartheid regime was contested, and, in the later years leading up to democracy, a means of promoting the nation-building and cultural reconciliation rhetoric. This notwithstanding, its history during this period remains poorly researched and documented both in academia, specifically, and more broadly in the entertainment and media industry. This article therefore traces the development and practice of comedy in the country under apartheid rule, paying attention to how shifts in content, delivery across platforms and stylistic choices mirror changes in the country’s socio-political landscape. By exploring South African comedy from a historical perspective, this article further highlights the ongoing connectivity of politics and comedy in a way that simultaneously encapsulates issues of space, place and citizenship in evocative ways.
{"title":"The Comedy-Scape in Apartheid South Africa: A Historical Overview","authors":"Jennalee Donian","doi":"10.25159/2413-3086/9609","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25159/2413-3086/9609","url":null,"abstract":"Comedy during the apartheid era was an integral medium for indoctrination and pacification. It was also a key instrument through which the apartheid regime was contested, and, in the later years leading up to democracy, a means of promoting the nation-building and cultural reconciliation rhetoric. This notwithstanding, its history during this period remains poorly researched and documented both in academia, specifically, and more broadly in the entertainment and media industry. This article therefore traces the development and practice of comedy in the country under apartheid rule, paying attention to how shifts in content, delivery across platforms and stylistic choices mirror changes in the country’s socio-political landscape. By exploring South African comedy from a historical perspective, this article further highlights the ongoing connectivity of politics and comedy in a way that simultaneously encapsulates issues of space, place and citizenship in evocative ways.","PeriodicalId":42048,"journal":{"name":"Phronimon","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-12-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43341942","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The debate on the non-philosophical and non-scientific character of classical African intellectual tradition has spread for so long and become a dominant locus. In the context of the multicultural relations that currently map and shape the contours of human identity, it is now fashionable to appraise cultures and identities not in isolation or with reference to uniqueness but in terms of confluent epistemologies, mutual and inter-related intellectual historical identities. This trend toward networking global intellectual history is laudable, as globality narratives on knowledge production fundamentally entail harmony, shared lifeworld, humanity imaginaries and essences as core moral- epistemological values. Against this background, this article engages in an intercultural analysis of Orunmila in classical Yorùbá-African thought, and Socrates in classical Greek thought, to discover the areas of Afro-European thought confluence in the philosophies of these two historic figures. Consequently, this article uncovers the historical and textual evidence in the oral literature of the Yorùbá that validates the ancient philosophical thoughts of Orunmila as no less sophisticated vis-à-vis that of Socrates in ancient Greek philosophy. This article argues that the classical philosophies of both Socrates and Orunmila are mutually sympathetic with fundamental lessons for developing contemporary intellectual canons of intercultural philosophy.
{"title":"Socrates and Orunmila in Conversation","authors":"A. K. Fayemi","doi":"10.25159/2413-3086/4452","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25159/2413-3086/4452","url":null,"abstract":"The debate on the non-philosophical and non-scientific character of classical African intellectual tradition has spread for so long and become a dominant locus. In the context of the multicultural relations that currently map and shape the contours of human identity, it is now fashionable to appraise cultures and identities not in isolation or with reference to uniqueness but in terms of confluent epistemologies, mutual and inter-related intellectual historical identities. This trend toward networking global intellectual history is laudable, as globality narratives on knowledge production fundamentally entail harmony, shared lifeworld, humanity imaginaries and essences as core moral- epistemological values. Against this background, this article engages in an intercultural analysis of Orunmila in classical Yorùbá-African thought, and Socrates in classical Greek thought, to discover the areas of Afro-European thought confluence in the philosophies of these two historic figures. Consequently, this article uncovers the historical and textual evidence in the oral literature of the Yorùbá that validates the ancient philosophical thoughts of Orunmila as no less sophisticated vis-à-vis that of Socrates in ancient Greek philosophy. This article argues that the classical philosophies of both Socrates and Orunmila are mutually sympathetic with fundamental lessons for developing contemporary intellectual canons of intercultural philosophy.","PeriodicalId":42048,"journal":{"name":"Phronimon","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-12-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44214741","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Why Nothing Seems to Matter Any More: A Philosophical Study of Our Nihilistic Age, by Bert Olivier","authors":"Chantelle Gray","doi":"10.25159/2413-3086/10224","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25159/2413-3086/10224","url":null,"abstract":"Montagu House, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. 2020ISBN: 978-0-9823734-8-4","PeriodicalId":42048,"journal":{"name":"Phronimon","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-12-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46725206","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
African philosophy, at least the modern modality of its practice, is said to have been initiated by the overwhelming question concerning its existence: Is there an African philosophy? No doubt such radical questioning concerning “knowledges” from Africa is determined by an overarching, indeed imperial, definition of what is understood to be “philosophy”; in other words, this question sought to determine whether those knowledges from Africa fit the category of what is known to be “philosophy” in the Western world. In this paper, I deal with the historical question pertaining to the existence of an African philosophy and the present reiterations of this question. I begin in the first section with an interrogation of such questioning concerning doubt about African philosophy’s existence: 1) to subvert the question and thereby undermine the basis of its questioning; 2) to examine the underlying structures of coloniality in Western philosophy and its colonising effects—showing how such a question is rooted in doubt, ignorance and power as functionaries of the European epistemological paradigm facilitating epistemological dominance; and 3) to use such questioning as a basis from which to develop an account of what African philosophy is.
{"title":"African Philosophy? Questioning the Unquestioned","authors":"Thabang Dladla","doi":"10.25159/2413-3086/6795","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25159/2413-3086/6795","url":null,"abstract":"African philosophy, at least the modern modality of its practice, is said to have been initiated by the overwhelming question concerning its existence: Is there an African philosophy? No doubt such radical questioning concerning “knowledges” from Africa is determined by an overarching, indeed imperial, definition of what is understood to be “philosophy”; in other words, this question sought to determine whether those knowledges from Africa fit the category of what is known to be “philosophy” in the Western world. In this paper, I deal with the historical question pertaining to the existence of an African philosophy and the present reiterations of this question. I begin in the first section with an interrogation of such questioning concerning doubt about African philosophy’s existence: 1) to subvert the question and thereby undermine the basis of its questioning; 2) to examine the underlying structures of coloniality in Western philosophy and its colonising effects—showing how such a question is rooted in doubt, ignorance and power as functionaries of the European epistemological paradigm facilitating epistemological dominance; and 3) to use such questioning as a basis from which to develop an account of what African philosophy is.","PeriodicalId":42048,"journal":{"name":"Phronimon","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45401197","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jean-Francois Lyotard’s concept of “the differend” enables one to gain a purchase on the plethora of clashing, divergent discourses or opinions characterising the current historical era, that of the coronavirus “pandemic” (Covid-19), in so far as this concept enables one to discern those areas of discourse where no possibility of agreement could possibly be reached. It contrasts Lyotard’s notion of the differend with Habermas’s of “consensus,” and advances the argument that Lyotard’s perspective not merely seems to be applicable to the global situation, today, but that it appears to be vindicated by the incommensurability of opinions, views and beliefs characterising the informational and communicational exchange in contemporary media on various aspects of the “pandemic.” The latter include the question of the origin of the “novel coronavirus” (natural, zoonotic transfer to humans, or techno-scientifically produced in a laboratory); the issue of so-called PCR-tests (reliable or not); whether to “lockdown” or not (Sweden versus the rest of the world); and perhaps the most vexing question of them all, namely, whether to receive a Covid-19 vaccine or not (one of several available ones), or to depend on alternative available treatments such as Ivermectin, when necessary. It is demonstrated that the available reports, opinions and pronouncements on these issues diverge irreconcilably, and therefore constitute an exemplary instance of the differend. Finally, the question is raised, what it would take to resolve the differend, or alternatively, make it disappear.
{"title":"The “Pandemic” and the Differend","authors":"B. Olivier","doi":"10.25159/2413-3086/9764","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25159/2413-3086/9764","url":null,"abstract":"Jean-Francois Lyotard’s concept of “the differend” enables one to gain a purchase on the plethora of clashing, divergent discourses or opinions characterising the current historical era, that of the coronavirus “pandemic” (Covid-19), in so far as this concept enables one to discern those areas of discourse where no possibility of agreement could possibly be reached. It contrasts Lyotard’s notion of the differend with Habermas’s of “consensus,” and advances the argument that Lyotard’s perspective not merely seems to be applicable to the global situation, today, but that it appears to be vindicated by the incommensurability of opinions, views and beliefs characterising the informational and communicational exchange in contemporary media on various aspects of the “pandemic.” The latter include the question of the origin of the “novel coronavirus” (natural, zoonotic transfer to humans, or techno-scientifically produced in a laboratory); the issue of so-called PCR-tests (reliable or not); whether to “lockdown” or not (Sweden versus the rest of the world); and perhaps the most vexing question of them all, namely, whether to receive a Covid-19 vaccine or not (one of several available ones), or to depend on alternative available treatments such as Ivermectin, when necessary. It is demonstrated that the available reports, opinions and pronouncements on these issues diverge irreconcilably, and therefore constitute an exemplary instance of the differend. Finally, the question is raised, what it would take to resolve the differend, or alternatively, make it disappear.","PeriodicalId":42048,"journal":{"name":"Phronimon","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-09-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42279724","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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