Physical expressiveness precedes language as the negative that generates it

Evidence

In Butler’s conception, insofar as the force of the body is knowable through the system of signifi challenges to the system come from interventions in the signifi features of that system. For example, Butler analyzes the reappropriation of the term “queer,” which was historically used as a form of hate speech against lesbians and gays, but which has now come to serve as a positive term of self.. identifi For But.. ler the appropriation of the term “queer” works by redirecting the force of the reiterative structure of homophobic norms and tethering the term to a differ.. ent context of valences, meanings, and histories. What is notable for the pur.. pose of my argument here is that it is a change in the referential structure of the sign that destabilizes the normative meaning and force of the term “queer.” In the case of the mosque movement, as I have argued above, a change in the referential structure of the system of signs cannot produce the same effect of destabilization. Any attempt to destabilize the normative struc.. ture must also take into account the specifi of embodied practices and virtues, and the kind of work they perform on the self, recognizing that any transformation of their meaning requires an engagement with the technical and embodied armature through which these practices are attached to the self. — Saba Mahmood, Politics of Piety, 1130 (#expands, via linked claim)

If we insistently stress this relation, it is because it allows us to show that for Hegel, the divine negativity, conceived in its most radical form, does not manifest the lack or the passivity, but rather the plasticity of God. — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel, 759 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Psychoanalysis and neurology can only dialogue after accepting negative plasticity — Catherine Malabou, The New Wounded: From Neurosis to Brain…, 4333; Expressive conduct is understood directly, original to perception, not by analogy — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 905; The duality of negations grounding being-for-others is irreducible to any synthesis (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• The duality of negations grounding being-for-others is irreducible to any synthesis #expands (0.80)
• Embodied practices make linguistic resignification alone unable to destabilize norms #expands (0.75) — Saba Mahmood, Politics of Piety, 1130
• Linguistic thoughts can be heard as sounds rather than meanings #exemplifies (0.70) — Pauline Oliveros, Deep Listening, 221
• Language frees humans from stimulus-response and enables self-consciousness #corroborates (0.70) — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 86
• Divine negativity manifests plasticity, not lack or passivity #complicates (0.70) — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel, 759