The politics of style : Baudrillard, metatheory, autodestruction
Date
1992
Authors
Leeson, Evan Andrew
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Abstract
This thesis is an examination of the metatheoretical politics practiced by the eminent French sociologist Jean Baudrillard. Through an examination of the changes in Baudrillard's writing styles I demonstrate how his theoretical trajectory leads to progressively more fragmented and autodestructive textual approaches. I then illuminate the metatheoretical assumptions that inform such practices, making specific reference to Baudrillard's interpretation and use of the works of Georges Bataille.
In the Introduction I set the parameters for an investigation of the political relevence of style in theoretical texts. I demonstrate how the early modern political theorist Thomas Hobbes accorded the question of style a place of great importance in his canonical work Leviathan.
In Chapter One I explore the work of number of writers who provide conceptual 'doorways' to the problem of style in theoretical texts. In philosophical terms, I explore the discordance and ambiguity between the
concepts of art and truth, as well as style and method. Most importantly, I draw from the works of Friedrich Nietzsche and Gilles Deleuze in order to elaborate the concept of 'noology,' the conceptual tool I use to diagnose the existential character of Baudrillard's universe.
In Chapter Two I begin to map the theoretical trajectory that leads Baudrillard to his later stylistic experimentation. I examine a number of his early works in order to show how his analysis of the object form proper to the social relations of political economy lays the groundwork for a later questioning of the form of theoretical texts.
In Chapter Three I examine the work Symbolic Exchange and Death, which is a watershed in Baudrillard's theoretical trajectory. There he elaborates his theories of 'simulation' and 'hyperreality', and initiates his first significant stylistic experimentation. I conclude Chapter Three with an elaboration of the anti-Hegelian metaphysics Baudrillard imports from the work of Georges Bataille in an attempt to combat the homeopathic impenetrablility of simulation phenomena.
In Chapter Four I outline Bataille's theory of general economy, as well as his theory of writing, and demonstrate how Baudrillard's writing style, as well as his key concepts describing the possibilty for change, can be understood by reference to Bataille's work.
In my Conclusion I offer a critique of Baudrillard's stylistic experimentation. Using the concept of noology, as well as the work of Nietzsche, I demonstrate how Baudrillard's metatheoretical politics are imbued with ressentiment. I argue that Baudrillard is trapped in his own theory of simulation, and plagued by the 'eternal recurrence' of Hegel. In order to escape the rigid and homeopathic structures of identity he sees in modern society, Baudrillard develops, through a reading of George Bataille, a metatheoretical strategy aimed at destroying identity and escaping the ravages of temporal existence. I characterize such a strategy as romantic, and show how, even for Nietzsche, the writer from whom Bataille and Baudrillard draw so much of their inspiration, one who relies on such a destructive strategy takes revenge on all things by forcing his/her own image, the image of torture, on them.
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UN SDG 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions