Poststructuralism and the New Humanism

THE TOWER OF BABEL by Pieter Breugel the Elder depicts our linguistic research as a titanic collective enterprise requiring the efforts of an organized, hard-working multitude. The image of the Tower of Babel can be seen as a representation of the structuralist movement as well. Closely examined, the painting's laboring masses surprise us with their general movement away from the tower and toward us, the viewers--so that we can imagine the title of the painting to be Structuralists of Yore Turning their Backs on Linguistics. Among the most well-known French structuralists, many at one point or another have become apostates, renouncing their original principles and ventriloquizing what has become known as poststructuralist positions. Barthes, Foucault, Todorov and Deleuze are exemplary of this radical shift. A full treatment of their poststructuralist theories would require an extensive discussion not possible here. It is, however, necessary to propose a brief assesment of the conditions which have led to their devolution, especially at a time when in Europe--particularly in France and Germany-the legitimacy of their apostasy comes under question, and when the challenge of the New Humanism promotes innovative means to shape a different critique of our contemporary society

Aesthetics · Apostasy · Art · Art history · Epistemology · Humanism · Legitimacy · Literature · Multitude · Painting · Political science · Representation (politics) · Sociology · Surprise · Tower of Babel · Historical Linguistics and Language Studies · Law · Linguistics and Discourse Analysis · Philosophy · Semiotics and Representation Studies