Jensen Suthur at nonsite:
The first thing to note is that I whole-heartedly affirm Michaels’ now-classic claim that intentionality is constitutive of believing, acting, and therefore reading. Given the force of this claim, “Against Theory” should have been an object-lesson in swamp-draining, but in my view, its own quietism worked against its actual assimilation within literary studies. One way to put the problem is that Michaels is right to think that intentionality is descriptive of action and belief but wrong to think that it therefore has no normative role to play in the exercise of our agency.
For example, to be a friend is to be minimally abiding by the norms of friendship—versus, say, the norms of professional acquaintanceship. I thereby commit myself to doing certain things (showing up in times of need, lending a sympathetic ear, and so on) and not doing others (telling lies, being unreliable). But friendship can be pursued either well or poorly. A bad friend is not simply not-a-friend (a stranger) but someone who is committed to friendship and yet who is not making good on the commitment. Perhaps my friend compulsively lies, or borrows money and refuses to pay it back.
more here.
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