Moments

I'm always struck by the sorts of language that political theorists use. For example, I'm not sure I've read a book in liberal or institutional theory that the author hadn't, well, liberally sprinkled with the word 'require.'

In the same vein, people who are interested in utopian theories tend to use the term 'moment' a lot. They are intrigued by the 'utopian moment' in various literatures or ideas. Likewise, and more relevant to a liberal, Mel over on accountability bloke, talks about Bruce Ackerman's far more literal 'constitutional moment.'

I haven't lent too much thought to this. That is, beyond the fact that the moment metaphor refers to more than a unit of time, something chronological. Time is in there, alright, but it's not sufficient to explain what people seem to mean by the metaphor. It also seems to have within itself something like the Derridean concept of 'trace.' But I'll leave it at that - I'm well out of my depth with these faffy speculations. There are probably only two responses to the post: 'what?' or 'so what?'...