Introduction.
In this text I will attempt a move beyond nihilism. I will, through a genealogical comparison of the gulag and the asylum, provide a basis for the rejection of punishment in the name of "structural nihilism". "Structural nihilism" will be defined by my genealogy, as the doctrine of punishment in the name of ideology. Camus extends the definition of nihilism to a belief in empty ideologies, such as Fascism and Stalinism, I follow in this. The text concentrates on rationalistic ideologies but this is not exclusive. I believe `In The Cathedral', in Kafka's `The Trial', shows the possible continuity of this genealogy of punishment in the name of irrational justice: `The narrative contains two important statements from the door-keeper about admission into the law, one at the beginning, one at the end. The first is that he "cannot grant him entry now" and the other "this entrance was meant only for you".' (TR.168) As well as this look at `The Trial', I have, prompted by Camus, examined Raskolnikov and Barazov, as literal incarnations of breeds of historical Russian nihilists. I concede that, although I have not always explitly made reference to the passages that have prompted me to do so, in my "investigation" I am following a course in many ways set by the Lukacs of `Theory of the Novel' and the Camus of `The Rebel'. There is also a, revised, Nietzschean slant here. This is a stance which rejects teleology (on my interpretation) rather than one that expresses any clear position on the Greek world (which all these thinkers admire). I take this stance to imply a rejection of excessive rationalism.
Through the genealogy I will try to define discourse in broadly Derridean terms, as related by Martin, and use the constructive ideas following from it. I wish to avoid the "relegation of the subject", which I find in Martin, because of a "romantic" agenda (to be found in Lukacs and Camus) which treats the subject as a centre of meaning. This is a logical necessity - nihilism is essentially the belief in nothing and meaning is its opposite. This conception of the subject will be linked to a concept of discourse.
Due to the constraint of space, and my own reading habits, I regret that I have not given sufficient space to the issue of gender. However, I have not ascribed gender to "the inmate" and have tried to deal with positionality and the heroine (in Dostoyevsky's work).
In this text I have used reasoned arguments to present my case but regret that I have not had the space or time to pursue Derrida's question as to the status of Foucault's critique of reason. This text occurs within the discourse of philosophy and its rationalism is a recognition of this. The text is Nomadic, it travels via the route of philosophical argument to the irrational domain of subjects and meaning. Derrida, in `Spurs' recognises that the history of truth is appropriation and that style must be plural. Is genealogy an appropriation of the philosophical style? When I turn my attention to the role of discourse, discourse will be shown to exist not merely as a function of language but also of power, i.e., I am presenting a philosophical argument, thus the styles of this work.
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