Derrida & The Postmodernists

 On Page 311 of his book 12 RULES FOR LIFE AN ANTIDOTE TO CHAOS, Jordan Peterson writes this: "There is sufficient truth to Derrida's claims to account, in part, for their insidious nature. Power is a fundamental motivational force ('a,' not 'the'). People compete to rise to the top, and they care where they are in dominance hierarchies. But (and this is where you separate the metaphorical boys from the men, philosophically) the fact that power plays a role in human motivation does not mean that it plays the only role, or even the primary role. Likewise, the fact that we can never know everything does not make all our observations and utterances dependent on taking some things into account and leaving other things out (as we discussed extensively with Rule 10). This does not justify the claim that everything is interpretation, or that categorization is just exclusion. Beware of single cause interpretations--and beware the people that purvey them."

My response: This paragraph is loaded with rich information. Power is a fundamental motivational force, but it can be to build, create, love not just tear down, destroy and hate. Power can be decentralized and shared to guarantee a rough social, political and economic equality.

Jordan later adds that competence not power is how well-functioning hierarchies work, and he is correct  but I would like to explain that competence is the positive power of knowledge and skill applied in the competitive marketplace.

We cannot know everything, so we find meaning and survival in applying a working and practical set of hierarchical values to all kinds of incoming events, keeping some, escalating some, and deemphasizing, even casting aside lest valuable or irrelevant concerns. We prioritize and rank to be able to function, to live. 

Everything is not mere opinion or interpretation, and many of these ranking-rich categories are necessarily applied, and accurately applied also.

On one hand Derrida and his minions deny metanarratives capture the gist of anything, and then they introduce cultural Marxism as their single cause panacea for every human need and problem. These true believers bring nothing good to anyone.