BHA: Reality, existence

[MSPRINKER@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

               State University of New York at Stony Brook
                       Stony Brook, NY 11794-3355

                                            Michael Sprinker
                                            Professor of English & Comp Lit
                                            Comparative Studies
                                            516 632-9634
                                            05-Jun-1998 06:05pm EDT
FROM:  MSPRINKER
TO:    Remote Addressee                     ( _bhaskar@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx )

Subject: Reality, existence

Apropos of Louis's examples and final comments:  can we say
that ideological phenomena exist in some sense? are they real in
some sense?

I'd say offhand that the Santa Claus example falls under the
category of ideology, an imaginary relation to real conditions
of existence embodied in specific material practices (like
leaving milk and cookies in front of the chimney).  Reality
and existence have many modalities, as both Aristotle and
Althusser were fond of reminding us.  I think Marx understood
this as well, though you couldn't tell it from his discussion
of ideology in THE GERMAN IDEOLOGY.

Put more programmatically:  Louis's conception of reality and
existence is somewhat too rationalist; it fails to account
for the material effectivity of ideology, or so it seems to
me.

Michael Sprinker


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