Chris wrote:
>"Derrida has shown that, contrary to Husserl's notion of a pure origin,
>consciousness never precedes language,and we cannot see language as a
>representation of a silently lived through experience."
>
>I cannot vouch that this represents Derrida accurately.I've read as much
of Derrida's
>own words as I can,but,as yet,am not much wiser regarding this particular
>technicality.
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).
Perhaps anyone in the list (alas, not many!) would like to shed new light
on the matter?
Víctor
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