Talking on deconstructionism

"Deconstructing Deconstructionism."

Sound like nonsense?

That's the point.

Last night, Jonathan Chaves presented a lecture under that name, attempting to prove exactly that deconstructionism is highly irrational.

Chaves is a professor of Chinese at George Washington University and the author of several books including The Singing of the Source.

He addressed an intimate gathering of a dozen students, professors and local residents in the library of the Newman Center.

Eastern Orthodox Chaplain Father Alexander Webster introduced Chaves. Webster is a close friend and admirer of the speaker.

He read an autobiographical poem written by Chaves to familiarize the audience with the speaker's background.

Chaves began his presentation with another original poem: "How Do I Hate Thee, Let Me Count the Ways."

He was speaking about his hatred of deconstructionism and the postmodernist movement.

During the course of his lecture, the visiting scholar proceeded through the four pillars of the postmodernist movement: deconstructionism, new historicism, feminist criticism and sex/body criticism.

"I see this as the intellectual equivalent of a vanity license plate," Chaves said. "We're supposed to find this to be witty, when vanity is in fact what's involved."

Throughout the evening, Chaves mentioned figures from Karl Marx to O.J. Simpson. He discussed the sociological, theoretical and political elements of the postmodernist movement.

Ultimately, Chaves concluded by talking about postmodernism from a Christian perspective.

"Naming is God's gift to us," he said. "Instead of smirking at it, we should be down on our knees in gratitude."

The speech sparked interest among the small crowd. It was followed by a 45-minute question-and-answer period when audience members challenged and commended Chaves.

Some people even stayed after to continue one-on-one debates with the professor and other audience members.

Overall, the crowd gave Chaves good reviews.

College sophomore James Choi, who considers himself an anti-postmodernist, agreed with Chaves' analysis.

"He shed a lot of light on how academia is being corrupted by relativistic nonsense," he said.

"I don't think postmodernism is philosophically rigorous enough," Choi added. "It seriously underestimates the power of reason."

University employee David Nelson was very impressed by the presentation.

"We're on the same wavelength," Nelson said. "He spoke directly to me."

"I am, like him, totally repulsed by it," he added.

The event was sponsored by the Orthodox Christian Fellowship. It was the fifth and final Distinguished Guest Lecture for this academic year.

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