Critique,rhétoricité, communicabilité

La critique et la théorie littéraires contemporaines présentent un paradoxe: elles notent, par la référence à la rhétorique, la rupture de la propriété argumentative ou persuasive de l'oeuvre; elles préservent cependant l'hypothèse d'une propriété conversationnelle du littéraire — hypothèse qui n'est pas véritablement explicitée. Ce paradoxe, essentiellement lisible dans la déconstruction, l'est aussi dans les propositions de Sartre, dans la pensée du dehors de Foucault, dans le dialogisme de Bakhtine. Le paradoxe revient, de fait — telle est la thèse de cet article — à énoncer une propriété rhétorique et persuasive de l'oeuvre, au moyen d'une référence à la rhétorique d'abord confondue avec la tropologie et avec l'effacement du jeu persuasif. Cette ultime propriété rhétorique et persuasive est identifiable par l'alliance de lasuspension, qui caractérise le texte littéraire dès lors qu'il est placé sous le signe de la rupture de l'argument et de la persuasion, et du jeu anaphorique, lui-même indissociable du questionnement que suscite la suspension. A partir du constat de ce questionnement, il convient de dire que le texte littéraire est ce qui fait fond à la disparité du doxique, et que celui-ci apparaît comme le répondant provisiore et variable de lacasuistique que constitue le texte littéraire.     

Postmodernism: What One Needs to Know

This essay is an introduction to postmodernism and deconstruction as they relate to the special challenges of scholarship and teaching in the science and religion multidiscipline.     

Deep dysphasia: An analog of deep dyslexia in the auditory modality

A right-handed patient, with two left hemisphere lesions, a small one in the prefrontal lobe and a larger one in the temporal, presents an unusual syndrome: a massive deficit for oral language (expression and comprehension) contrasting with a fairly good preservation of written language (expression and comprehension). The processing of isolated words and sentences has been extensively tested with repetition and dictation tasks. The patient performs rather well with nouns, verbs, and adjectives, poorly with adverbs and function words, and completely fails with nonsense words. A remarkable feature of his repetition is the frequency of semantic paraphasias. Thus, this patient exhibits a behavior rather similar to deep dyslexia, hence the possible label "deep dysphasia." The paper presents a "preunderstanding" hypothesis to account for such behaviors.     

Effects of live modeling, covert modeling and rehearsal on assertiveness in psychiatric patients.

The present study evaluated the effects of live modeling, covert modeling, and rehearsal in unassertive psychiatric patients. Psychiatric patients scoring 19 or below on the Wolpe-Lazarus Assertiveness Scale were assigned to one of five conditions, with 10 subjects in each group: (1) Test-retest (no treatment). (2) Live modeling plus rehearsal. (3) Live modeling without rehearsal. (4) Covert modeling plus rehearsal, and (5) Covert modeling without rehearsal. All subjects were videotaped (pre- and post-test) while responding to eight interpersonal situations (four training scenes; four generalization scenes) requiring assertive responses. Pre- and post-test responses for all subjects were rated independently by judges on several verbal and non-verbal components of assertiveness. The results indicated that live modeling and covert modeling effected improvements in the assertive behavior of the patients, but that the two treatments were not differentially effective. Generally, the addition of rehearsal to live or covert modeling failed to enhance treatment. But on two measures, the covert modeling plus rehearsal condition was superior to the other treatments. There was evidence for transfer of treatment effects from training to generalization scenes. No differences were found among the groups on the Wolpe-Lazarus Assertiveness Scale and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. The results were discussed in light of prior findings with live and covert modeling procedures.     

Care of the Self and Patient Participation in Genetic Discourse: A Foucauldian Reading of the Surgeon General's “My Family Health Portrait” Program

Critics of genetic discourse are concerned that deterministic and discriminatory views of genetics are increasingly becoming adopted. These views argue that current genetic discourse becomes a source of power whereby powerful institutions harm people with so-called “bad” genes. This essay argues that current analyses of the power of genetics discourse are grounded in an improper reading that disempowers patients. Deploying Michel Foucault's concept “care of the self,” this essay claims that genetics discourse is better understood as a way that patients take on power through rhetoric rather than a force that has power over patients. Through a close reading of the “My Family Health Portrait” program, this paper argues that patients experience a process of “subjection” wherein they become agents of and objects of genetics discourse both. This alternative mode of analyzing the power of genetics discourse has implications for our collective understanding of the operations of the care of the self and the uses of genetic information that we propose.     

Praxis and Agency in Foucault’s Historiography

This paper examines the consequences for agency that Foucaults historiographical approach constructs. The analysis begins by explaining the difference between legislative history and exemplary history, drawing parallels to similar theoretical distinctions offered in the works of Max Weber, J.L. Austin, and Zygmunt Bauman. The analysis continues by reading Habermass critique of Foucault through the tropological lenses suggested by White [Metahistory. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1973]; it argues that Habermass critique misrecognizes the tropes of Foucaultian genealogy. The paper draws implications for education by articulating possibilities for praxis and agency in terms of pedagogy specifically related to the distinction between didactics and modeling. The paper concludes by suggesting that genealogy does not play by Hegels rules, but rather exemplifies agency in ways that are not recognizable from a modernist perspective.     

Pastoral power in nurturing the spiritual life of the child

In this article, I will investigate the link between – what the French philosopher Michel Foucault calls – ‘pastoral power’ and the concept of ‘nurturing children’s spirituality.’ In the first step, I will explain the concept of pastoral power. In a second step, I will look to some literature about nurturing the spirituality of the child and the tips and tricks they give to nurturing the spirituality of the child. I will develop how power is present and how it can be abused easily. By nurturing the spirituality of their child, parents can control the life of the child. I will argue that it is important that everyone who works with children is aware of the hidden forms of power in nurturing the spirituality of the child in order to not misuse their power.     

Homophobia is the patient 1

This paper draws on psychoanalytic work with a heterosexual woman who struggles with the conscious and unconscious aspects of her homophobia. It reflects on the limitations of the classical psychoanalytic interpretations of phobia as a symptom in the light of contemporary philosophers such as Levinas, Foucault and Butler. It focuses particularly on the connection between anxiety and the relation to the Other.