Simulacra

Every question involves an implicit field of questions. The question of this dissertation points to simulacra as a key concept in the field of cultural criticism and cultural studies, and its emergence, establishment and development. The field of questions of my dissertation includes: what is a simulacrum? What is the value of studying it? How it embodies reflexivity, that is, the self-reflection on its own genealogy, concept, and methodology. Combining both question and its implicit field of questions, I attempt to crystallize reflexive interrogations into a research on the "theorization" of simulacrum in order to demonstrate and open up a discursive space for a theory of simulacra.This dissertation is composed of four parts: literature review, introduction, main text and conclusion.In Literature Review I analyze domestic and overseas contemporary research on simulacra, along with their main arguments and existing problems. I suggest that domestic research has mainly focused on Baudrillard, and the understanding of the concept has therefore been restricted to his works. Overseas research in this area, however, has transcended the limits of Baudrillard, though further intertextual explication and expansion of the concept has yet to be developed in cultural studies. In Introduction I first present an outline of the etymology and translation of the word "simulacrum". I then identify the features of simulacra as a theory in relation to the context of Baudrillard's concept by discussing how to understand the category of "theory", thus establishing the basic ideas and methods of my research on simulacra.Main Text consists of five chapters. In the first four chapters I elucidate the origin, evolvement and establishment of the theory of simulacra. Issues primarily discussed in those chapters are: 1) the relationship between simulacra and reality; 2)the existence of any original outside this relationship; 3)the definition of humans or subject positions within this relationship; 4)the generation of simulacra. In addition to this line of inquiry, I also compare and contrast the approaches of four theorists of simulacra at the end of Chapter 3 and Chapter 4, revealing their similarities and differences, in order to illustrate the internal links among them, to mark out crucial transitions in the development of the theory of simulacra, and to demonstrate the potential richness of the theory.Chapter 1 addresses Plato's theory of simulacra and summarizes it as problem of generality vs. particularity, or "one" vs. "many". I first analyze what is simulacra of the third order, and then indicates the laxity of the third order through a discussion of the relationship among simulacra, idea and mimesis. Based on a reinterpretation of the metaphor of cave, I demonstrate the generation and nature of simulacra, their relationship with humans and cognitive functions, thus defining a basic theoretical field for the discussion of simulacra.Chapter 2 is concerned with Nietzsche's theory of simulacra. I argue that Nietzsche seeks to subvert Plato's theory through simulacrumizing metaphysics with the concepts of will to power and eternal reoccurrence. Following Plato's model of "real being-anti real being", Nietzsche promotes a simulacrumizing process of epistemology, religion, ethics and the "real world" predicated on eternal reoccurrence, with the aim to eventually subvert Plato's order of simulacra. Nietzsche's view that reality is not a copy of idea but the real itself constitutes a key transition in the development of the theory of simulacra. After Nietzsche reality has become the only reference of simulacra, and the notion of an idea above reality has been abandoned.Chapter 3 explores the establishment of the theory of simulacra, which is formulated by Baudrillard as an escalation and subversion of the crisis of representation. As a strong proponent of simulacra, Baudrillard attempts to escape Saussure's semiotics and Marx's production theory in methodology. Through his construction of a historical order for simulacra, the establishment of its logic and the play out of this logic in American society, Baudrillard raises Plato's third order of simulacra to the height of ontology and becomes the most well-known theorist of simulacra. He both rewrites the relationship between simulacra and reality, and delineates the constitution of subject and object and their interactions in contemporary world. The logic of "Map First" results in a disconnection between simulacra and reality; from now on simulacra will self-copy and self-generate based on only model. More importantly, simulacra not only can vividly copy reality but rewrite reality and produce "hyperreality". The implosion of reality and simulacra leads to a disappearance of reality in a closed semiotic circle. While confirming the merits of Baudrillard's theory, I also suggest that we should keep a critical distance with it.Chapter 4 discusses Deleuze's view of simulacra and its fundamental link to his philosophy of difference which erases the original and identity. Drawing on Nietzsche's affirmation of sense and reality, Deleuze re-examines Plato's notion of simulacrum through rhizome thinking and argues that simulacrum is a symptom of the difference. Rather than a copy or imitation of the original, simulacrum marks the obstacle or rupture produced by the inherent differences among things and signifies a non-identity in empirical conditions. As such, Deleuze helps to invest a positive meaning in the concept of simulacra.Chapter 5 examines the development of the theory of simulacra. Jameson argues that the concept of simulacra contains the most central critical power of postmodern cultures in terms of ethics, psychology and politics, and is closely related to the interpretation of postmodern cultural criticism. The appeal of the concept lies in the fact that while realizing a function of ideology, it is also a vehicle of Utopian affirmative hermeneutics. By reducing Baudrillard's concept of simulacra to the dimension of culture and redefining its methodology, value judgment, textual analysis and sensory basis, Jameson has greatly furthered the studies of simulacra.The Conclusion offers a future outlook on the theory of simulacra from two perspectives. One locates simulacra in the context of visual cultural and explores viable expansions of the theory in terms of visuality, cross-disciplinarity and visual literacy. The other offers a "theoretical imagination" on the reconstruction of the logic of simulacra and its research future from the angels of the disenchantment of technology, the alternative logic of simulacra and the simulacra of humans.My project not only analyzes Baudrillard's theory of simulacra, but attempts to construct simulacra, a multi-dimensional fluid existence in terms of past/present, philosophy/culture, technology/visual, and metaphysics/daily life, on a "theoretical" baseline, establishing its internal relational model and exploring new approaches and possibilities. Innovations in my project are as follows:First, I break away from traditional research models and provide a new overall structure for the theory of simulacra. For the first time, the discursive space of simulacra is constructed by an external macro perspective and internal logical connections. My project is characterized by a clear awareness of problems and a concern for the contemporary relevance of the theory, both of which helps to deepen the historical understanding of simulacra and its value in cultural criticism, and paves way for further grasp of the richness and complexity of the concept.Second, in view of the current state of domestic research on Baudrillard, my project provides a clearer outline of the origins, historical order and internal logic of his theory of simulacra. I particularly emphasize the significance of rhetoric in understanding the operation of simulacra in his theory, which obviously adds more depth to my research methodology.Third, contrary to the general approach to Plato's concept simulacra, I proceed from close reading and relationships between concepts, and demonstrate the multiple meanings of Plato's concept through an analysis of the nuanced relationship among simulacra, idea, and mimesis, as well as a reading of the cave metaphor based on the generation of simulacra, the visual metaphor and the transgression of the site of simulacra. This line of argument and theoretical position are both quite innovative.