On Sophism and Feminism
One of my favorite articles of the past decade comes from my intellectual hero, Martha Nussbaum of the University of Chicago.
Her New Republic article from 2003, The Professor of Parody attacks the vapid, useless, and frankly unreadable work of Judith Butler.
Butler and her friends fought back in print. But basically they could not mount a decent argument because so few of them could write a coherent argument. And well, Nussbaum was right.
Now John McGowan offers a defense, of sorts, of Butler and a criticism of Nussbaum.
I can't say that I find McGowan's case persuasive. But has more substance and patience than much of what followed Nussbaum's article. So I thank him for writing it.
Is still find myself asking the basic questions: what can we do with Butler's celebration of play-for-the-sake-of-play in "Gender Trouble?" What sort of politics can we make of it? How does it move us toward a more just world?
And I still can't understand why Butler hates her readers so much.