> I am not at all an specialist on Derrida, who is famous for the extreme
> difficulty of his writing. I've read more on him than by him (an
> archaeology oriented introduction is Timothy Yates' article in Tilley's
> book "Reading material culture", and I know a very funny cartoon-like
> introduction "for beginners" by a Jim Powell, translated into Spanish in
> Argentina!). But I agree with you in that he is the "anti-metaphysical" par
> excellence and that he puts language over everything. That is why I was
> very surprised by the criticism to him by Lilla in the NYRB, for his
> "undoing of rational discourse about justice" (i.e. with deconstruction) is
> to prepare "the advent of justice as Messiah" (i.e. as an infinite idea of
> justice).
In so far as I understand Derrida,his deconstruction closely parallels the
zen koan,which has a history of something like a thousand years or more
behind it.That would seem to be a fruitful and interesting conjunction from
which one might expect hybrid vigour to emerge.
It might be the case that 'consciousness' ( as in "consciousness never precedes
language ") is another example of the 'false friend syndrome',(that is,an imprecision
or misinterpretation of Derrida)or,it may be that this ordering sequence results
from Derrida's argument that a first is only recognisably a first by consequence
of a second that follows it. The second is therefore the prerequisite of the first.
No second,no first.This does not deny the existence of a first,but only that is
apparent as a first.The first, recognizable only after the arrival of a second,thus
becomes a third.
Chris.
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