The Saturated Self [antikvár]

PreßaceEach time the query is put forward, I pause and ponder. The question jis simple enough, asked by neighbors, relatives, friends, my children, and even passing strangers"What are you working on?" They rightly expect a clearly phrased reply. Yet invariably I falter: How can I extract from the argot of my academic guild a stunning bit of news or an insight of rippling profundity? How can I introduce into a casual conversation those lengthy lines of argument that inject the adrenaline into a given idea? And how is my sense of fascination to be transported to the disparate worlds of the attorney, the hairdresser, the surgeon, the sales manager, the engineer, the artist, the rock music enthusiast?I began this book in an attempt to bridge these many domains. My hope was to offer insight into current academic debates to those outside the tower. There are good reasons for doing so. The academic world is now in a state of immense and far-reaching ferment. Virtually all the assumptions guiding both reason and research over the past century are coming under sharp question. Many nonacademic readers are aware of the debates over the canons of Western literature now engulfing the academic community, and the increasing currency of such terms as de-construction, poststructuralism, and postmodern. Yet these are meager indications of the radical reconsideration of our longstanding traditions of truth and knowledge. As beliefs in objective knowledge fall into disrepute, the entire face of education, science, and "knowledge-making" in general stands to be altered. The issues are far too important, and too much fun, to be contained within the walls of academia.