Babel has become a key image for postmodern Western thought. A number of years ago, Princeton’s Jeffrey Stout wrote Ethics After Babel , reacting to the Babelic move of some moral philosophers (such as MacIntyre and Hauerwas), who pointed to the difficulties of translation and even conversation across the boundaries of moral traditions. Stanley Fish does not, to my recollection, use the image of Babel, but he describes a similar tribalization of moral and political discourse in The Trouble With Principle . Derrida’s project turns largely on a Babelic theme ?Ethe question of whether there is an Ur-voice or Ur-Logos behind the multiple symbolic logoi of human discourse. Derrida’s project might be characterized as the argument that Babel is of the essence of language.
All of which suggests this account of postmodernism: It is a recognition of Babel without a belief in Pentecost.
Peter Leithart
Peter J. Leithart is President of Theopolis Institute. He is the author of numerous books on theology, literature, and culture, including Theopolitan, Defending Constantine, and Baptized Body.
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