/lit/ - Literature

>>9075637
Let me tell you something else. When I look at this great *inhale* country of ours, you know what I don't see? Ideals. There's no ideals. And the ideals we do have are very, very bad. They're low-energy ideals.

Poststructuralism was a failure. Nobody thinks this works anymore. One of the things that make me successful is that I like to surround myself with great, great people. Very smart.

You know what I like? *enunciates, gestures* Neo-Aristotelian pragmatism. I like Aristotle. Very smart guy, very smart. And the one thing that Aristotle would never, ever do is split off the signifier from the signified. Ever. One of the things I'm working on right now is an executive order to repeal deconstruction. We're moving on that as quickly as possible. That's coming.

*inhale* You asked me about Hegel. Here's what I think about that. Hegel was a brilliant guy. There's no doubt about that. The Phenomenology of Spirit is an incredible book, really incredible. But look around you. Do you really think we need more Hegel? The lord and bondsman - really? Take a look around you. Modern capitalism is a completely different thing. It's totally different. Look at me. I'm successful. I've been very successful. But now I'm giving that back. In Hegel's view, I would be a master. But I don't think I lack for self-consciousness. People are always telling me, if anything, that I'm too self-consciousness. So we'll see about Hegel. Personally, I think it's done.

Look at China. Now, I've said a lot of bad things about China. I'm not going to lie about that. They said a lot of bad things about me, I'm going to say bad things about them. But the one thing they do have is a very long-standing philosophical tradition. And that is one thing - I'm going to be a little bit controversial here, for some of our viewers - that is one thing that I would like to see more of. We don't have that anymore. It's gone. People today are all over the place.

It's why my advisors and I have been working on establishing the Department of Intellectual Security. It's going to be a team of people, very smart people, who are going to work on rebuilding the Logos. Because honestly, metaphysically speaking, it's disaster out there, a total disaster.

We need to protect our intellectual borders. There are some very, very bad hombres out there. Very bad. So the vice-president and I are working, very hard, to build a Chesterton's Fence, and poststructuralism is going to pay for it.