I've read the NYRB / Derrida article.Thanks for mentioning it,Victor.
My favourite line by Derrida is:
"To relate to an object _as such_ is to pretend that you are dead."
which I take to convey the same wisdom as the couplet by Basho
which I quoted somewhile ago.
This notion of an infinitely irreducible idea of justice is indeed a
fascinating sting in the deconstructionism's tail.And for most,it will
remain "an experience of the impossible",always beyond reach.
Behind the flowery language,it seems to me,that what he is saying
is not new at all.He is referring to the Logos of Heraclitus,the Good of
Plato,the Father of Jesus,the Supreme Ultimate of the Taoists,Brahman
of the Hindus,Ain Soph of the Kabbalists,etc,etc,the preverbal,preintellectual
Source.Has there ever been any philosopher or messiah who has not clung to
a version of the Absolute in the final analysis ?
My own preferred term would be the Void.'When the opposites arise,
the buddhamind is lost'.
I perceive my interpretation from Derrida's words,rather than Lilla's.Lilla
seems to find a different slant on that particular quote,which I don't agree
with,particularly the word 'revelation',which I dislike intensely.But Lilla's
analysis of the difference between US and European view is fascinating in
itself.
Chris.
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