Deconstruction is a poststructural theory that has been applied with good results to such areas as Anthropology, Architecture, Critical Legal Studies, Graphic Design, and Literary Criticism. Our purpose is to introduce it into the practice of consulting in general, and public policy formation in particular. Several features of the recent work of Jacques Derrida (the Philosopher responsible for deconstruction) are relevant to our design of a Problem Tour.
Problem
A deconstructive approach to problem solving puts in question the concept of "problem" and the notion of "solution."
"Problema can signify projection or protection, that which one poses or throws in front of oneself, either as the projection of a project, of a task to accomplish, or as the protection created by a substitute, a prosthesis that we put forth in order to represent, replace, shelter, or dissimulate ourselves, or so as to hide something unavowable--like a shield (problema also means shield, clothing as barrier or guard-barrier) behind which one guards oneself in secret or in shelter in case of danger. Every border is problematic in these two senses" (Derrida, 1993: 11-12).
An allegorical definition of the effect of problem as shield is the scene in which the ghost of Hamlet's father, a "revenant," appears in full armor on the ramparts of Elsinor. The definition involves the fusion of a series of terms: advice, advise, adviser, advisory, visor. "To feel ourselves seen by a look which it will always be impossible to cross, that is the visor effect on the basis of which we inherit from the law. Since we do not see the one who sees us, and who makes the law, who delivers the injunction; since we do not see the one who orders 'swear,' we cannot identify i...
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...ames the essence of tragedy. This dynamic continues today, and is the reason for the "urgency" of the emerAgency.
WORKS CITED
Benitez-Rojo, Antonio (1996), THE REPEATING ISLAND: THE CARIBBEAN AND THE POSTMODERN PERSPECTIVE, 2nd Ed., Trans. James E. Maraniss (Duke).
Derrida, Jacques (1993), APORIAS, trans. Thomas Dutoit (Stanford).
____________ (1994), SPECTRES OF MARXS: THE STATE OF THE DEBT, THE WORK OF MOURNING, AND THE NEW INTERNATIONAL, trans. Peggy Kamuf (Routledge).
____________ (1997), POLITICS OF FRIENDSHIP, trans. George Collins (Verso).
Peters, F. E. (1967), GREEK PHILOSOPHICAL TERMS: A HISTORICAL LEXICON (New York University).
Poundstone, William (1992), PRISONER'S DILEMMA: JOHN VON NEUMANN, GAME THEORY, AND THE PUZZLE OF THE BOMB (Doubleday)
Ventura, Michael, "Hear That Long Snake Moan," in SHADOW DANCING IN THE USA (Tarcher, 1985).
Crassweller, Robert D. Trujillo: The life and times of a Caribbean dictator. New York: Macmillan.1966.
societies to reexamine their view of the Caribbean. In this paper the following topics in The
History can significantly influence the ways in which a place, along with its community, evolves. Now considered postcolonial, not only are Hawaii and Antigua heavily defined by their colonial pasts, but they are also systematically forced into enduring the consequences of their unfavorable histories. Through their unconventionally enlightening essays, Jamaica Kincaid and Juliana Spahr offer compelling insights into how the same idea that exists as a tourist’s perception of paradise also exists as an unprofitable reality for the natives who are trapped in their pasts yet ironically labeled as independent. The lasting impacts of colonialism on the history of Antigua and Hawaii can be noted through their lasting subservience to their colonizing
Andrée M. Collard, "Bartolomé de las Casa," History of the Indies, ed. Joyce J. Contrucci (1999).
Green, Cencilia. (1997). Historical Roots of Modern Caribbean Politics. Against the Current. Vol. 12, (4), 34-38.
Deconstruction is the core idea of Jacques Derrida’s philosophy. And Derrida’s philosophical theory on Deconstruction is also the main part in this realm. The word “deconstruction” is always tied with the name Derrida.
It seems like, everywhere we turn there is another problem just waiting to take us down. We see all sorts of problems in our society, and lots of them may take years and years to solve. But what is really cool, is that all problems are possible to solve, but there is one thing you must have when solving a problem.
Wilson, Samuel M. Hispaniola: Caribbean Chiefdoms in the Age of Columbus. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press,1990.
In "East Coker," T. S. Eliot pleads "Do not let me hear / Of the wisdom of old men, but rather of their folly…." (Eliot 185) The folly of old men must surely be a central trope in any discussion of Shakespeare's imposing tragic accomplishment, King Lear. Traditional interpretations of the play, drawing on the classical Aristotelian theory of tragedy, have tended to view Lear's act of blind folly as hamartia, precipitating the disintegration of human society. In the ensuing crisis, "the basic ties of nature fall apart to reveal a chaos where humanity 'must prey on itself like monsters of the deep.'" and "evil is immanent and overflows from the smallest breach of nature." (Mercer 252) Modernist interpretations have given this scenario an existential spin, treating Lear as a representative of Man, lost in a nihilistic universe. Thus Joyce Carol Oats writes that "the drama's few survivors experience [the conclusion] as in 'image' of the horror of the Apocalypse, that is, an anticipation of the end of the world." She concludes that "we are left with no more than a minimal stoicism…. For what purpose?--to turn the wheel full circle, it would seem, back to the primary zero, the nothing that is an underlying horror or promise throughout." (Oats 215)
It is in this whole process of meeting and solving problems that life has its meaning. Problems are the cutting edge that distinguishes between success and failure. Problems call forth our courage and our wisdom; indeed, they create our courage and our wisdom. It is only because of problems that we grow mentally and spiritually. When we desire to encourage the growth of the human spirit, we challenge and encourage the human capacity to solve problems, just as in school we deliberately set problems for our children to solve. (p. 16)
Langley, Lester D. The United States and the Caribbean in the Twentieth Century; The University of Georgia Press (Athens, 1982).
In Arthur Miller’s essay, Tragedy and the Common Man, Miller creates a distinction from classical tragedies by creating a modern tragedy. Aristotle’s classic tragedy is, “an imitation of an action that is serious and complete in the mode of action and is not narrated. It effects pity and fear which is called catharsis. It has a beginning, middle, and end and its function is to tell of such things that might happen in the future- to express the universal” (Aristotle). To produce the feelings of either pity or fear, reversal, which is, “the change from one state of affairs to its exact opposite” (Aristotle), and recognition, which is, “the change from ignorance to knowledge, on the part of those who are marked for good fortune or bad” (Aristotle) must both ...
After his father’s ghost visits Hamlet, he learns he must avenge his father’s death. The difficulty in this task not only comes from the ironic reality that the murderer is his uncle, but also the internal struggle because
There is a sense of a Caribbean writer’s role as a “revolutionary hero” who must paint his words to restore a Caribbean sense of identity. This dedication t to the Caribbean’s story of struggle is, without a doubt, far from “dismissed” in Walcott’s work. Walcott delicately articulates that “In the Caribbean, history is irrelevant. Not because it is not being created, or because it was sordid; but because it has never mattered, what has mattered is the loss of history, the amnesia of the races, what has become necessary is imagination, imagination as necessity, as invention.” In order to explain the present conditions of the modern Caribbean, he cannot avoid recounting the tragic phases of its colonial past, as he does in “The Sea Is History.”
In a culture accustomed to implementing quick fixes, it is tempting to avoid or rush through the problem analysis phase. Problems are increasingly complex and few exist in isolation. The risk is creating solutions that may be based on assumptions about the components or ramifications of the problem. Break down the problem into rational parts that can be addressed one at a time. Get a fresh perspective on old problems and have fun in the process.