Essays, notes, and fragments--personal, political, and philosophical--from the midst of things
Russell, being partial to Heidegger myself I must ask though how he affects your view of Canada, SCTV, and the Loonie. (Personally I hated the change to the coins - now you lose much more money in couches and car seats)
Well, I suppose I was engaging in some hyperbole there. But just the same, I do think that if you dig deep down into my affection for Canada--or, more specifically, my affection for the political question of Canada--what you may find lurking, in the midst of other reflections on identity, language, constitutionalism, and the like, is the ghost of George Grant, and a kind of communitarian/anti-modernist rejection of the liberal, technocratic order. Grant--and Charles Taylor too!--carry forward, in different ways, at least one genuinely Heideggerian theme that fits Canada quite well: a refusal to accept a purely intentional, contractual conception of the political order (which is a myth Americans like to tell themselves about themselves), and the acceptance that our condition is linguistically and historically and culturally contextual, Geworfenheit, always already underway. It's a humbling insight, and America doesn't do humble very well.
No, it was pretty interesting. What's most interesting to me is that I left Canada precisely because I saw the opposite. I saw in the 80's, when I was most impressional as a lad, the country largely control by a liberal technocratic order. I know Canada has changed since the Trudeau days of my youth. (There's even Canadian nationalism now) I agree it rejects the social contract but seemed to adopt something far worse to me — a kind of paternalism by those who didn't know nearly as much as they thought they did. A hold over from the old British view of colonies along with a character that developed out of the Loyalists fleeing the US to remain true to Britain. If the US suffers due to an unexamined acceptance (even by liberals) of manifest destiny and a naive conception of a social contract then Canada suffered from almost the opposite. An anxiety of its neighbor to the South combined with vestiges of the old aristocracy.Maybe everything would have been different had John Diefenbaker not let the US kill the Arrow. (grin) (A bit of an inside Canadian joke about the old days of the cold war and Canadian/US relations)
Well, Canada has changed tremendously since George Grant's day, and I doubt he would like any of those changes, even if the past 25 post-Trudeau years have brought some good develops to light. Interesting that you connect a kind of elite paternalism/political correctness running amuck with an old aristocratic noblesse oblige. I would see it more as the consequences of a society which has embraced liberalism despite having a social, cultural, and regional foundation for something much different. Grant wanted Canada's unity to be expressed in that way he thought it had been up until the mid-20th century; through diverse communities which nonetheless shared an ethnic and religious history. Some of that deep pluralism-within-unity is preserved in Charles Taylor's thought, but Canada has been so thoroughly caught up in America's capitalist/individualist/technological order that the notion of individual rights has to be grafted onto it, one way or another. Given the way Toronto can economically and electorally overpower outnumber and overpower just about the rest of the whole country, "individual rights" in practice becomes what Southern Ontario elites think they should be. So weirdly--and Grant would hate this--Quebec, with the "notwithstanding" clause--kind of becomes the carrier of the torch of the older, humbler, "Heideggerian" Canada which Grant lamented the passing of.
It's interesting how the value of multiculturalism has persisted in Canada well past the Trudeau days when arguably it was developed. Indeed one sense of Canada can be seen as an opposition to the melting pot metaphor of American assimilation. This has caused problems at times - the overreach of the human rights council, some problem with Sikh violence, and a few other issues. But given Europe's problems with the same it is quite surprising how well Canada has developed an unique culture emphasizing multiculturalism.What you say about Ontario is correct, and that was characteristic of a lot of stresses in the 90's. Federalism was a constant debate then well into the 90's. However I think that with the rise of Alberta as an economic juggernaut things have changed somewhat significantly.Of course since I am now only a Canadian ex-pat I just can't speak to what it's become. I will say that the rise of Canadian nationalism probably has helped Canada have a whole more than anything else. That's a welcome change. When I was a kid the old joke was that Canadians were just like Americans and the only way to tell them apart was to say that. Now though I think Canada is something unique beyond being caught up in American capitalism. Whereas before it always felt like Canadian content requirements, especially in media, was a kind of rearguard action now it's something else. At least I feel that way when I go home to visit. There's far more of an identity than there ever was before. Perhaps, to follow the Heideggarian route, Canadians finally decided to just be themselves rather than being so caught up (even within an over opposition) in Das Man - that is being lost in American or British culture.
Russell, being partial to Heidegger myself I must ask though how he affects your view of Canada, SCTV, and the Loonie. (Personally I hated the change to the coins - now you lose much more money in couches and car seats)
ReplyDeleteWell, I suppose I was engaging in some hyperbole there. But just the same, I do think that if you dig deep down into my affection for Canada--or, more specifically, my affection for the political question of Canada--what you may find lurking, in the midst of other reflections on identity, language, constitutionalism, and the like, is the ghost of George Grant, and a kind of communitarian/anti-modernist rejection of the liberal, technocratic order. Grant--and Charles Taylor too!--carry forward, in different ways, at least one genuinely Heideggerian theme that fits Canada quite well: a refusal to accept a purely intentional, contractual conception of the political order (which is a myth Americans like to tell themselves about themselves), and the acceptance that our condition is linguistically and historically and culturally contextual, Geworfenheit, always already underway. It's a humbling insight, and America doesn't do humble very well.
ReplyDeleteNo, it was pretty interesting. What's most interesting to me is that I left Canada precisely because I saw the opposite. I saw in the 80's, when I was most impressional as a lad, the country largely control by a liberal technocratic order. I know Canada has changed since the Trudeau days of my youth. (There's even Canadian nationalism now)
ReplyDeleteI agree it rejects the social contract but seemed to adopt something far worse to me — a kind of paternalism by those who didn't know nearly as much as they thought they did. A hold over from the old British view of colonies along with a character that developed out of the Loyalists fleeing the US to remain true to Britain. If the US suffers due to an unexamined acceptance (even by liberals) of manifest destiny and a naive conception of a social contract then Canada suffered from almost the opposite. An anxiety of its neighbor to the South combined with vestiges of the old aristocracy.
Maybe everything would have been different had John Diefenbaker not let the US kill the Arrow. (grin) (A bit of an inside Canadian joke about the old days of the cold war and Canadian/US relations)
Well, Canada has changed tremendously since George Grant's day, and I doubt he would like any of those changes, even if the past 25 post-Trudeau years have brought some good develops to light. Interesting that you connect a kind of elite paternalism/political correctness running amuck with an old aristocratic noblesse oblige. I would see it more as the consequences of a society which has embraced liberalism despite having a social, cultural, and regional foundation for something much different. Grant wanted Canada's unity to be expressed in that way he thought it had been up until the mid-20th century; through diverse communities which nonetheless shared an ethnic and religious history. Some of that deep pluralism-within-unity is preserved in Charles Taylor's thought, but Canada has been so thoroughly caught up in America's capitalist/individualist/technological order that the notion of individual rights has to be grafted onto it, one way or another. Given the way Toronto can economically and electorally overpower outnumber and overpower just about the rest of the whole country, "individual rights" in practice becomes what Southern Ontario elites think they should be. So weirdly--and Grant would hate this--Quebec, with the "notwithstanding" clause--kind of becomes the carrier of the torch of the older, humbler, "Heideggerian" Canada which Grant lamented the passing of.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting how the value of multiculturalism has persisted in Canada well past the Trudeau days when arguably it was developed. Indeed one sense of Canada can be seen as an opposition to the melting pot metaphor of American assimilation. This has caused problems at times - the overreach of the human rights council, some problem with Sikh violence, and a few other issues. But given Europe's problems with the same it is quite surprising how well Canada has developed an unique culture emphasizing multiculturalism.
ReplyDeleteWhat you say about Ontario is correct, and that was characteristic of a lot of stresses in the 90's. Federalism was a constant debate then well into the 90's. However I think that with the rise of Alberta as an economic juggernaut things have changed somewhat significantly.
Of course since I am now only a Canadian ex-pat I just can't speak to what it's become. I will say that the rise of Canadian nationalism probably has helped Canada have a whole more than anything else. That's a welcome change. When I was a kid the old joke was that Canadians were just like Americans and the only way to tell them apart was to say that. Now though I think Canada is something unique beyond being caught up in American capitalism. Whereas before it always felt like Canadian content requirements, especially in media, was a kind of rearguard action now it's something else.
At least I feel that way when I go home to visit. There's far more of an identity than there ever was before. Perhaps, to follow the Heideggarian route, Canadians finally decided to just be themselves rather than being so caught up (even within an over opposition) in Das Man - that is being lost in American or British culture.