From root at xname.cc Thu May 14 12:38:47 2009 From: root at xname.cc (xname) Date: Thu, 14 May 2009 12:38:47 +0200 (CEST) Subject: [dev] A Bakhtinian software Message-ID: Ted Byfield and Florian Schneider defined the Virtual Entity as a Bakhtinian software and research. This Saturday afternoon at Jan van Eyck a symposium on Bakhtin with Maurizio Lazzarato, Arianna Bove and others will take place: http://imaginaryproperty.com/intervention3 BTW, who is Bakhtin? Mikhail Mikhailovich Bakhtin (Russian: Михаил Михайлович Бахти́н, pronounced [mʲɪxʌˈil mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪʨ bʌxˈtʲin]) (November 17, 1895 – March 7, 1975) was a Russian philosopher, literary critic, semiotician and scholar who wrote influential works of literary and rhetorical theory and criticism. His works, dealing with a variety of subjects, have inspired groups of thinkers such as neo-Marxists, structuralists, and semioticians, who have all incorporated Bakhtinian ideas into theories of their own. As a literary theorist, Bakhtin is associated with the Russian Formalists, and his work is often compared with that of Yuri Lotman; in 1963 Roman Jakobson mentioned him as one of the few intelligent critics of Formalism. In the 1920s there was a "Bakhtin school" in Russia, in line with the discourse analysis of Ferdinand de Saussure and Roman Jakobson. Toward a Philosophy of the Act 1. I both actively and passively participate in Being. 2. My uniqueness is given but it simultaneously exists only to the degree to which I actualize this uniqueness (in other words, it is in the performed act and deed that has yet to be achieved). 3. Because I am actual and irreplaceable I must actualize my uniqueness. Bakhtin further states: “It is in relation to the whole actual unity that my unique ought arises from my unique place in Being”.According to Bakhtin, the I cannot maintain neutrality toward moral and ethical demands which manifest themselves as one’s voice of consciousness. It is here also that Bakhtin introduces an architectonic model of the human psyche which consists of three components: “I-for-myself”, “I-for-the-other”, and “other-for-me”. The I-for-myself is an unreliable source of identity, and Bakhtin argues that it is the I-for-the-other through which human beings develop a sense of identity because it serves as an amalgamation of the way in which others view me. Conversely, other-for-me describes the way in which others incorporate my perceptions of them into their own identities. Identity, as Bakhtin describes it here, does not belong merely to the individual, rather it is shared by all. The Dialogic Imagination: Chronotope, Heteroglossia The Dialogic Imagination is a compilation of four essays concerning language and the novel: “Epic and Novel”, “From the Prehistory of Novelistic Discourse”, “Forms of Time and of the Chronotope in the Novel”, and “Discourse in the Novel”. In the nineteenth century the novel as a literary genre became increasingly popular, but for most of its history it has been an area of study often disregarded. It is through the essays contained within The Dialogic Imagination that Bakhtin introduces the concepts of heteroglossia, dialogism and chronotope, making a significant contribution to the realm of literary scholarship.[18] Bakhtin explains the generation of meaning through the "primacy of context over text" (heteroglossia), the hybrid nature of language (polyglossia) and the relation between utterances (intertextuality).[19] [20] Heteroglossia is "the base condition governing the operation of meaning in any utterance."[20][21] To make an utterance means to "appropriate the words of others and populate them with one's own intention". “From the Prehistory of Novelistic Discourse” is a less traditional essay in which Bakhtin reveals how various different texts from the past have ultimately come together to form the modern novel. -- 6DD4 2D4C