Taking on the Tradition: Jacques Derrida and the Legacies of DeconstructionStanford University Press, 2003 - 211 pages Taking on the Tradition focuses on how the work of Jacques Derrida has helped us rethink and rework the themes of tradition, legacy, and inheritance in the Western philosophical tradition. It concentrates not only on such themes in the work of Derrida but also on his own gestures with regard to these themes that is, on the performativity of Derrida's texts. The book thus uses Derrida's understanding of speech act theory to reread his own work. The book consists in a series of close readings of Derrida's texts to demonstrate that the claims he makes in his work cannot be fully understood without considering the way he makes those claims. The book considers Derrida's relation to the Greek philosophical tradition and to his immediate predecessors in the French philosophical tradition, as well as his own legacy within the contemporary scene. Part I examines Derrida's analyses of Plato and Aristotle on the themes of writing and metaphor. Part II looks at themes of donation, inheritance, pedagogy, and influence in relation to Derrida's readings of the works of Michel Foucault, Jacques Lacan, and Jean-Pierre Vernant. Part III considers the promises and legacies of Derrida's work on autobiography, friendship, and hospitality, themes Derrida has recently taken up in his readings of Martin Heidegger, Maurice Blanchot, and Emmanuel Levinas. In the Conclusion, the author analyzes what Derrida has recently called a "messianicity without messianism" and shows how Derrida develops two different notions of the future and of legacy: one that always determines a horizon for the donation and reception of any legacy or tradition, and one that leaves open a radically unknown and unknowable future for that legacy and tradition. |
Contents
in White Mythology | 37 |
A Final Impetus to | 57 |
Violence Metaphysics | 93 |
Translating Skepticism in Memoirs | 117 |
Apostrophe and the Politics of Friendship | 136 |
Deconstructions | 154 |
the Second Coming of Dr John Alexander Dowie | 170 |
Notes | 191 |
Other editions - View all
Taking on the Tradition: Jacques Derrida and the Legacies of Deconstruction Michael Naas No preview available - 2003 |
Common terms and phrases
Adieu already ambivalence apostrophe Aristotle asks bedstead Blanchot Blind called chapter claims Cogito comes context death debate deconstruction Derrida begins Derrida says Derrida writes Descartes detour dialogue différance discourse divining rod Elijah Emmanuel Levinas essay ethics Foucault Geoffrey Bennington gesture gift give Glas Greek Heidegger Hereafter abbreviated History of Madness hospitality inscribed interrupted Jacques Derrida Jean-Pierre Vernant John Alexander Dowie Justice to Freud khōra king legacy Levinas Levinas's logos mantle master means Memoirs metaphor Michel Foucault mourning narrative never notion Odysseus passage Patroclus perhaps Phaedrus pharmakon philos philosophical language Plato Plato's Pharmacy Politics of Friendship possible present proper name proximity question reading recall receive reception relation relationship scene seems self-portrait sēma simply speak speech stranger structure stump sure signs Telepathy Thamus theme Theuth things thought Timaeus tion tradition trans translation truth turn University Press Vernant Violence and Metaphysics welcoming word