Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'Truth (frags)', 'Many Politics' and 'Law, Pragmatism and Democracy'

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4 ideas

1. Philosophy / B. History of Ideas / 1. History of Ideas

21852	Nomads are the basis of history, and yet almost unknowable [Deleuze]
	Full Idea: There is no history from the viewpoint of nomads, although everything passes through them, to the point that they are like the noumena or the unknowable of history.
	From: Gilles Deleuze (Many Politics [1977], p.107)
	A reaction: Nomads have the same place in society that indeterminate 'stuff' has in an object-orientated metaphysics. Deleuze seems to be romanticising nomads the way the late Victorians romanticised gypsies.

24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 5. Democracy / a. Nature of democracy

21131	Democracy is competition for support of the people, guided by self-interest on all sides [Posner]
	Full Idea: Democratic politics is a competition among self-interested politicians, constituting a ruling class, for the support of the people, also assumed to be self-interested, and none too interested or well informed about politics.
	From: Richard Posner (Law, Pragmatism and Democracy [2003], p.144), quoted by Andrew Shorten - Contemporary Political Theory 05
	A reaction: This articulates the 'competitive' view of democracy, as simply a technique for establishing legitimacy. Posner is also an economist, and they also assume that everyone is wholly self-interested, which may be why they are so frequently wrong.

24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 11. Capitalism

21853	We are currently extending capitalism to the whole of society [Deleuze]
	Full Idea: What characterises our situation is ….the extension of capitalism to the whole social body.
	From: Gilles Deleuze (Many Politics [1977], p.110)
	A reaction: This is driven by the naïve people who think all problems can be solved by market forces, and that to everything that goes bankrupt we should just say 'good riddance'.

25. Social Practice / E. Policies / 1. War / a. Just wars

21851	The State requires self-preservation, but the war-machine desires destruction [Deleuze]
	Full Idea: There will always be a tension between the State apparatus with its requirement for self-preservation, and the war-machine in its undertaking to destroy the State, to destroy the subjects of the State, and even to destroy itself.
	From: Gilles Deleuze (Many Politics [1977], p.106)
	A reaction: This seems to fit WWI quite well, but the desire of the war-machine to destroy the State which pays for it sounds unlikely. Nevertheless war is appalling for the state, but it is the whole point of the war-machine, which gets restless.