Deconstruction Beyond Itself

Cambridge History of French Thought

This chapter offers an overview of Jacques Derrida’s contributions to philosophy and related disciplines. Following a brief biographical résumé, the chapter provides an overview of some of the central ideas running through Derrida’s philosophy of deconstruction. Looking especially to Derrida’s conception of alterity, it offers an assessment of the ethics of deconstruction as well as a summation of Derrida’s reflections on politics and political philosophy. The chapter further provides an account of the reception of Derrida’s work, both in France and internationally. It looks in particular to key debates with John R. Searle, Jurgen Habermas, and Michel Foucault as well as more recent arguments centred upon the political limitations of Derrida’s work amongst some contemporary neo-Marxist political theorists. It is argued that Derrida’s corpus is amongst the most influential bodies of work for twentieth century Humanities and Social Sciences scholarship.

2021

The term Deconstruction by the French theoretician Jacques Derrida has gained enormous attraction in the field of literary criticism. This revolutionary theory has challenged many clichéd ideals in criticism, be it literary or artistic criticism, in the twentieth century. Like literature, Deconstruction confronts the already established rules and standards associated with the meaning, understanding and discussion of and about art. Application of theory of Deconstruction on the western art is relatively a new concept adopted precisely in the latter half of twentieth century. Art produced by South Asian artists, has gone through many established sets of rules, that have been highlighted by many local and foreign critics and historians, time and again. However, application of theory of Deconstruction on a painting by a Pakistani artist is something new in art criticism. This study investigates and explores one of the famous figurative paintings, Talism-e Hoshruba, (magic that can blow ...

As an introduction to Derridean thought and the agenda of deconstruction, one must truly be exposed to Derrida, even to the point of discomfort, in order to grasp the effect that he has had on modern theology. Too few overviews and summations of deconstruction actually interact with the broad body of Derrida’s speaking and writing, choosing instead to sum up the core themes rather tidily, while ignoring the impact of the personal style and approach that Derrida constantly maintained.

Textual Practice, 2018

Shanlax International Journal of Arts, Science and Humanities, 2021

This paper is designed to reveal some of the philosophical ideas of Algerian-born philosopher Jacques Derrida. Jacques Derrida, a leading figure of Post-structuralism and Postmodernism is best known as the founding father of ‘Deconstruction’ but many of his philosophical ideas such as, logocentrism, differance, phonocentrism, aporia, anti-representationalism, etc. still remain rarely focused. Therefore, in this paper the researcher has tried to explore various philosophical ideas of Derrida before the readers to get acquainted with Derrida’s contribution to the world of knowledge. This research work has done with the help of both primary sources i.e., original writings of Derrida and secondary sources including the texts written by others. Here, all of Derrida’s ideas are explicitly described and justified by an inductive method. Finally, a concluding remark on deconstruction has been made by comparing Derrida’s idea of “Differance” with Nagarjuna’s concept of “Emptiness” which left...

This article presents an essay about Jacques Derrida's deconstruction and hermeneutics. It is also intended to give information about Post-Structuralism and its contribution in literary theory since Derrida's opinion made an impact including literary theory. By the way, this article hopes to make clear about Derrida's influence on contemporary thought and giving feedback for those who are new beginners in the field of Literary Theory and Criticism. JACQUES DERRIDA'NIN YAPISAL ÇÖZÜM VE YORUMLAMASINA KISA BIR BAKIŞ ÖZET Bu makalenin amacı Jacques Derrida'nin yapısal çözüm ve yorumlama ile ilgili görüşlerini açıklamaktır. Bu çalışma teorik bir çalışmadır. Derrida'nin edebi teoriyi kapsayan etkisinden dolayı, Post-Yapısalcılık ve edebi teoriye içeren bilgiler de ayni zamanda verilmeye çalışılmıştır. Bu makale özellikle Eleştiri ve Edebi Teori alanlarına yeni olan kişilere, Derrida'nin çağdaş düşünce ve dönüt verme gibi etkilerini açıklamayı umut etmiştir.

Filocracia: An Online Journal of Philosophy and Interdisciplinary Studies, 2014

The necessity of questioning the privileged spaces of power—be it personal, social, political, or religious—is a demand intrinsic to philosophy’s very own structure. In this paper, an identification of the thinking and the practice of subversion with the essence of philosophy is undertaken as a response to the challenge of intellectual sterilization brought about by the insidious effects of an omnipresent techno-capitalism and academic complicity. In particular, I will discuss Jacques Derrida’s deconstruction as a fertile example of a subversive ethos that refuses to be complicit with the powers-that-be but transgresses the complacent order of the present so as to achieve an opening for a more just relation to the “other” of thinking that has always been marginalized by history and the philosophical tradition. If philosophy is to remain true to its originary inspiration, then, it must remain vigilant to the various moments and forms of fossilizations of power and truth. The achievement of a critical position ownmost to philosophy is incumbent to us: i.e., as a radical refusal to be complicit with the present effects of power and a continuous cultivation of an ethos of writing and thinking that does not concede its loyalty to anything, even to philosophy. Keywords: Jacques Derrida, deconstruction, politics, subversion, ethos of thinking

2013

Jacques Derrida (1930-2004) is undoubtedly one of the most influential thinkers in the history of western thought. Derrida is responsible for the pervasive phenomenon in modern literary and cultural theory known as "deconstruction." While Derrida himself has insisted that Deconstruction is not a theory unified by any set of consistent rules or procedures, it has been widely regarded as a way of reading, a mode of writing, and, above all, a way of challenging interpretations of texts based upon conventional notions of the stability of the human self, the external world, and of language and meaning. Often deconstruction, a French word is described as a 'method' of 'analysis,' a 'type' of 'critique,' and 'act' of 'reading' as a 'way' of 'writing,' deconstruction as a broad phenomenon has become all of the things. Like the New Criticism in the 1940's and Structuralism thereafter, Deconstruction is the most influential critical movement of our time. According to the theoru of Deconstruction, no work of literature whatsoever has been able to express exactly what it wanted to say and thus the critics' business is to deconstruct and recreate them, taking their words as not the outward form of their meaning but only the 'trace of a quest.' (Das 31) The purpose of this paper is to show what the theory of deconstruction means and how it is different from earlier theories of literary criticism particularly New Criticism and Structuralism. The deconstructive philosophy of Derrida is a reaction to the structural anthropology of Claude Levi-Strauss. Derrida moved from a text oriented deconstructive approach through analysis of politics and institution. The work of Jacques Derrida in the 1960's is generally considered of crucial moment in the rise of post structuralism. In three seminal works-"Of Grammatology," "Speech and Phenomenon" and "Writing and Difference." Derrida calls into question the notion of centres, unity, identity, signification working at a point where he is intensely self-conscious and self-critical of his own writings, Derrida demolishes the boundaries between literature and non-literature. Derrida's transatlantic influence can be traced to an important seminar held at John Hopkins University in 1966. A number of leading French theorists, such as Roland Barthes, Jacques Lacan, and Lucien Goldmann, spoke at this conference. Derrida himself presented what was quickly recognized as a pioneering paper entitled "Structure, Sign and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences," a text which shows both what Derrida owes to structuralism and his paths of