There are various forms of negativity, such as chain negation in which -a
= b, -b = c, etc., productions similar in form and process,
non-symmetrical, to the programmer's < x = x + 1 >.
Neither a nor b is the sheffer-stroke dual; both it and the stroke (not
both a and b) can act as generators for the functions of propositional
logic. Interestingly, both are concrete forms of deferrment.
Mind you, we're remaining within classicist set-theoretical concepts
here, nothing fuzzy or fractal.
Alan
On Mon, 3 Oct 1994, Richard Cochrane wrote:
> > Actually, I like Geof Bennington's formulation
> > of the operation of differance: neither A nor B nor both
> > nor neither, which, to recall my days as an analytic
> > philosopher, is an aporia of identity: a repetition of
> > X =/= X? Of course, the question then rebounds: can
> > D&G affirm from a critique of identity? Massumi assumes
> > it can, as a BOTH/AND of radical empiricism. I'm inclined
> > to this, but what happens to difference without negation
> > (cf. Descombes' discussion of Nietzsche & Philosophy)?
> > Emission of singularities, you say? Well, in that case,
> > how the hell does one talk about a reactive force (or
> > a sad passion, or a molar identity, etc.)?
>
> This is an important point, I think, and one which is not often
> enough discussed; in "postmodern" and "post-structuralist" thought
> generally, there seems to be a readiness to do away with conventional
> logical truth-values. This is fine, except that
> it has to be founded on a sensible critique of logic, otherwise it
> does not fulfil its purpose of challenging that logic -- i.e. it's
> too easily dismissed as "hippy shit". After all, if negativity does
> not imply a negation of positivity (and _vice versa_), then what does
> it mean, and how can it be defended? If we want a third truth-value,
> which will supplement (in Derrida's sense) "truth" and "falsehood",
> what is the status of this truth-value to be? Can these sorts of
> formulations really do the work required of them -- a radical
> critique of logic and its ontological commitments?
>
> --
> Richard Cochrane
> Dept of Philosophy
> UWCC
> Cardiff
> Wales
>
> email: senrc@xxxxxxxx
>
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