more on this theme     |     more from this text

Single Idea 6840

[filed under theme 1. Philosophy / H. Continental Philosophy / 6. Deconstruction ]

Full Idea

In Derrida's later work we find him moving explicitly towards a belief in the undeconstructability of justice, as he puts it, which is an overarching value that cannot be relativised.

Gist of Idea

Derrida came to believe in the undeconstructability of justice, which cannot be relativised

Source

report of Jacques Derrida (later work [1980]) by Simon Critchley - Interview with Baggini and Stangroom p.191

Book Ref

Baggini,J/Stangroom,J: 'New British Philosophy' [Routledge 2002], p.191

A Reaction

A nice corrective to the standard Anglo-Saxon assumption that Derrida is an extreme (and stupid) relativist. The notion of 'undeconstructability' is nice, just as Descartes found an idea that resisted the blasts of scepticism.

The 38 ideas from Jacques Derrida

21932 'Différance' is the interwoven history of each sign [Derrida, by Glendinning]
8210 Deconstructing philosophy gives the history of concepts, and the repressions behind them [Derrida]
8211 The movement of 'différance' is the root of all the oppositional concepts in our language [Derrida]
6840 Derrida came to believe in the undeconstructability of justice, which cannot be relativised [Derrida, by Critchley]
21936 A community must consist of singular persons, with nothing in common [Derrida, by Glendinning]
21937 Can there be democratic friendship without us all becoming identical? [Derrida, by Glendinning]
21929 Derrida focuses on ambiguity, but talks of 'dissemination', not traditional multiple meanings [Derrida]
8213 I try to analyse certain verbal concepts which block and confuse the dialectical process [Derrida]
8216 Deconstruction is not neutral; it intervenes [Derrida]
8212 Everything that is experienced in consciousness is meaning [Derrida]
21931 'Dissemination' is opposed to polysemia, since that is irreducible, because of multiple understandings [Derrida, by Glendinning]
21885 Words exist in 'spacing', so meanings are never synchronic except in writing [Derrida]
21934 The idea of being as persistent presence, and meaning as conscious intelligibility, are self-destructive [Derrida, by Glendinning]
21886 Meanings depend on differences and contrasts [Derrida]
21930 For Aristotle all proper nouns must have a single sense, which is the purpose of language [Derrida]
21884 Capacity for repetitions is the hallmark of language [Derrida]
21935 The sign is only conceivable as a movement between elusive presences [Derrida]
21933 Writing functions even if the sender or the receiver are absent [Derrida, by Glendinning]
21881 We aim to explore the limits of expression (as in Mallarmé's poetry) [Derrida]
20925 Hermeneutics blunts truth, by conforming it to the interpreter [Derrida, by Zimmermann,J]
20934 Hermeneutics is hostile, trying to overcome the other person's difference [Derrida, by Zimmermann,J]
21895 Structuralism destroys awareness of dynamic meaning [Derrida]
21887 Derrida focuses on other philosophers, rather than on science [Derrida]
21888 Philosophy is just a linguistic display [Derrida]
21896 Philosophy aims to build foundations for thought [Derrida, by May]
21892 Interpretations can be interpreted, so there is no original 'meaning' available [Derrida]
21883 Sincerity can't be verified, so fiction infuses speech, and hence reality also [Derrida]
21893 Philosophy is necessarily metaphorical, and its writing is aesthetic [Derrida]
21882 Sentences are contradictory, as they have opposite meanings in some contexts [Derrida]
4756 Derrida says that all truth-talk is merely metaphor [Derrida, by Engel]
21877 True thoughts are inaccessible, in the subconscious, prior to speech or writing [Derrida]
21889 'I' is the perfect name, because it denotes without description [Derrida]
21878 Names have a subjective aspect, especially the role of our own name [Derrida]
21879 Even Kripke can't explain names; the word is the thing, and the thing is the word [Derrida]
21894 Madness and instability ('the demonic hyperbole') lurks in all language [Derrida]
21891 The good is implicitly violent (against evil), so there is no pure good [Derrida]
21890 Heidegger showed that passing time is the key to consciousness [Derrida]
21880 'Tacit theory' controls our thinking (which is why Freud is important) [Derrida]