Jacques Derrida

The Specter of Rousseau in Derrida’s Democracy

by David Sessions

An examination of Derrida's interactions with Rousseau, particularly his references to "The Social Contract"... more An examination of Derrida's interactions with Rousseau, particularly his references to "The Social Contract" in "Rogues." I explore a radical democratic reading of Rousseau that places him much closer to Derrida's "democracy to come" than Derrida's (admittedly limited) remarks on his political work would lead us to believe.

Spectres of YHWH - Deuteronomy and hauntology

by Jaco Gericke

Purloining Derrida? Authority, materiality and the right to philosophy in Argentina

by Francis Jervis

This paper examines the prosecution of an Argentine philosophy professor, Horacio Potel, for sharing a number of texts... more This paper examines the prosecution of an Argentine philosophy professor, Horacio Potel, for sharing a number of texts by Jacques Derrida online. By reading his own critique of copyright and the charges brought against him in conjunction with Derrida’s own work, I consider how Potel challenges understandings of authorship, law, and the ethics of copying, and how it has influenced popular discourse on copying. I also examine how his critique of the printed book as technology of transmission, in contrast to the liberatory potential of digital technologies, complicates our understanding of the materiality of cultural forms in resistances to neoliberalism in Argentina. Potel’s project can best be understood, I argue, as the construction of a reading subject whose orientation to the author and text is radically distinct from those seen either in other forms of “piracy” or liberal discourses of “open access” or “fair use.”

We Have Been Waiting...

by Peter McDonald

Published in Rhizomes (2010)

An experimental essay on, and in, the first person plural and post-structuralist philosophy. An experimental essay on, and in, the first person plural and post-structuralist philosophy.

Ranciere and the Disciplines v1

by Paul Bowman

First draft of a paper to be given in July 2012

Ethics of Hospitality

by Liza Griffin

Panel Discussion (2012) ‘Ethics of Hospitality’ International Studies Association, San Diego.

Call for Papers "Methods in Practice" Workshop, Manchester Workshop in Political Theory, 5-7 September 2012

by Jens Olesen

Deconstruction and Psychoanalysis: 'A Problematic Proximity'

by Robert Trumbull

Derrida Today 5.1 (2012)

This essay explores Derrida’s work on repetition in psychoanalysis and what Freud, in Beyond the Pleasure Principle,... more This essay explores Derrida’s work on repetition in psychoanalysis and what Freud, in Beyond the Pleasure Principle, called the ‘compulsion to repeat’. Revising the model of the psyche that had to that point dominated his theory, Freud began in 1920 to ascribe greater significance to experiences of trauma and unpleasure, and to their recurrence in the analytic treatment. This type of repeated repetition ultimately suggested to Freud the existence of a ‘death drive’ antithetical to life. I examine here how Derrida re-reads Beyond in The Post Card, analysing the way uncontrollable effects of repetition repeatedly undo Freud’s efforts to make any progress on what lies beyond the pleasure principle. Another ‘logic’ of repetition, other than the one Freud invokes, inhabits Freud’s text, threatening the fundamental opposition between the life drives and the death drive. But in reading Freud in this way, Derrida himself cannot quite ‘do justice to’ Freud, to the ambivalence at work in Freud’s text. At certain key moments in his reading of Beyond the Pleasure Principle, I show, Derrida seems to restrict an ambiguity in Freud’s thinking around the relation between life and death. What Derrida’s reading makes legible in part, then, is Derrida’s resistance to psychoanalysis, the tension inhabiting Derrida’s dealings with Freud in The Post Card and beyond.

Science and Transcendence: Westphal, Derrida, and Responsibility

by Nathan Kowalsky

published in 'Zygon:  Journal of Religion and Science', March 2012.

A full copy of the paper is available from the author upon request.

On the naive reading, “radical social constructivism” would be the result of “deconstructing” science. Science would... more On the naive reading, “radical social constructivism” would be the result of “deconstructing” science. Science would simply be a contingent construction in accordance with social determinants. However, postmodernism does not necessarily abandon fidelity to the objects of thought. Merold Westphal's Derridean philosophy of religion emphasizes that even theology need not eliminate the transcendence of the divine other. By drawing an analogy between natural and supernatural transcendence, I argue that science is similarly called to responsibility in the encounter with that which lies outside its horizon of expectation. Science's rational autonomy is overcome by the heteronomy of realities that precede it. Understanding species as homeostatic property clusters is an example of nonessentialist, postmodern, and scientific realism. Science is still a vehicle for encountering natural alterity, thus decentering the relativism thought to characterize postmodernism. However, natural science must not attempt to place the whole of being at human disposal if it is to fulfill the potential of Westphal's philosophy of religion.

Nietzsche a Wall Street

by daniele balicco

published in "www.leparoleelecose.it"

Nietzsche è stato, insieme a pochi altri pensatori classici, il punto di riferimento filosofico più importante per la... more Nietzsche è stato, insieme a pochi altri pensatori classici, il punto di riferimento filosofico più importante per la cultura teorica del secondo Novecento occidentale. Ma se è vero che i nomi dei filosofi sono poco più che metonimie, dove momentaneamente si cristallizzano e transitano flussi collettivi di pensiero , molto probabilmente non lo è stato per caso. La tradizione interpretativa francese che lo ha progressivamente trasformato in un polo magnetico generatore di vita teorica, di modelli esistenziali, di pratiche estetiche e di radicalismo politico, ha segnato a fondo gli ultimi tre decenni del Novecento e l’atmosfera teorica che ancora respiriamo. Il corpus di queste letture ha costruito un’egemonia. In questo scritto provo a ricostruirne le mosse teoriche fondamentali e la sua successiva metamorfosi statunitense.

Specter and Spirit: Ernst Bloch, Jacques Derrida, and the Work of Utopia

by Jason Kosnoski

In this paper I contend that both Ernst Bloch's theory of Utopia and Jacques Derrida's interpretation of the messianic... more In this paper I contend that both Ernst Bloch's theory of Utopia and Jacques Derrida's interpretation of the messianic promise of Marxism contain an underappreciated emphasis on the concept of work that can act as a basis for a novel synthesis of the two perspectives. When both theories are interpreted through this lens, they may be seen as representing two “moments” of a flexible Utopian “work” that closely resembles Marx's understanding of unalienated labor. Such a synthesis would be practiced as the alternation of Derrida's negative and Bloch's positive “Utopian work” with individuals engaging in the diverse, developmental, and collective production of Utopian visions of the best society. This process closely mirrors the creative, artisan-like work that Marx envisioned as flourishing after the eradication of the division of labor. When individuals practice it, they may gain an appreciation for this fundamental Marxist value even while existing in alienated, capitalist society.

Inscr(i/y)ptions: 'The Void that Holds

by Jodey Castricano

"The Chase: Rivalry and Conjuration"

by Kas Saghafi

"An Almost Unheard-of Analogy"

by Kas Saghafi

"Phantasmaphotography"

by Kas Saghafi

"The Ghost of Jacques Derrida"

by Kas Saghafi

"Salut-ations"

by Kas Saghafi

"'A Certain Spirit of a Certain Marx': Blanchot's Revolutionary Return in Specters of Marx"

by Kas Saghafi

"Incurable Haunting: Saluting Michel Deguy"

by Kas Saghafi

Stuff: Hoarding, Collecting and the Ontopology of the Artist’s Space

by Acacia Warwick