Essays
The Villanova Roundtable: A Conversation with Jacques Derrida
– “The Villanova Roundtable: A Conversation with Jacques Derrida,” in Deconstruction in a Nutshell ed. John D. Caputo (New York: Fordham University Press, 1997): pp. 4-28.Excerpt: “Now, nevertheless, the way that I try to read Plato, Aristotle and others is not a way of, let’s say, commending or repeating or conserving this heritage. It is an analysis which tries to find out how their thinking works or doesn’t… More
Nietzsche and the Machine
– “Nietzsche and the Machine,” Journal of Nietzsche Studies 7 (1994): pp. 7-66.An Interview with Jacques Derrida by Richard Beardsworth.
The Time is Out of Joint
– “The Time is Out of Joint,” in Deconstruction is/in America ed. A. Haverkamp (New York, New York University Press, 1994): pp. 14-38.Excerpt: ” ‘The time is out of joint.’ The formula speaks of time, it also says the time, but it refers singularly to this time, to an ‘in these times, the time of these times, the time of this world’ which was for Hamlet an… More
Force of Law: The Mystical Foundation of Authority
– “Force of Law: The Mystical Foundation of Authority” in trans. Mary Quaintance, Cardozo Law Review 11 (1989-1990): pp. 920-1045.By questioning law’s rather “violent,” “polemical,” “inquisitorial” character [Force of Law] intrusively asks the questions of whether deconstruction permits or denies any just action, any discourse about justice;… More
How to Avoid Speaking: Denials
– “How to Avoid Speaking: Denials,” in Derrida and Negative Theology. eds. Harold Coward and Toby Foshay (Albany: SUNY Press, 1989): pp. 73-136.Excerpt: “Under the very loose heading of ‘negative theology,’ as you know, one often designates a certain form of language, with its mise en scène, its rhetorical, grammatical, and logical modes, its demonstrative procedures… Is there one negative… More
Like the Sound of the Sea Deep Within a Shell: Paul de Man’s War
– “Like the Sound of the Sea Deep Within a Shell: Paul de Man’s War,” Critical Inquiry 14 (Spring 1988): pp. 590-652.Excerpt: “The title names a war. Which war? Do not think only of the war that broke out several months ago around some articles signed by a certain Paul de Man, in Belgium between 1940 and 1942. Later you will understand why it is important to situate… More
Declarations of Independence
– “Declarations of Independence,” New Political Science 7 (Summer 1986): pp. 7-15.Excerpt: “It is better you know right away: I am not going to keep my promise. I beg your pardon, but it will be impossible for me to speak to you this afternoon, even in an indirect style, about what I was engaged to deal with. Very sincerely, I would… More
In memoriam: for Paul de Man
– “In memoriam: for Paul de Man,” Yale French Studies 69 (1985).A tribute to one of the fathers of deconstruction.
Racism’s Last Word
– “Racism’s Last Word,” Critical Inquiry 12.1 (1985): pp. 290-299.Excerpt: “A memory in advance: that, perhaps, is the time given for this exhibition. At once urgent and untimely, it exposes itself and takes a chance with time, it wagers and affirms beyond the wager. Without counting on any present moment, it offers… More
Letter to a Japanese Friend
– “Letter to a Japanese Friend,” in Derrida and Difference eds. Robert Bernasconi and David Wood, (Warwick: Parousia Press, 1985): pp. 71-82.Excerpt: “Dear Professor Izutsu, At our last meeting I promised you some schematic and preliminary reflections on the word ‘deconstruction.’ What we discussed were prolegomena to a possible translation of this word into Japanese, one which… More
Of an Apocalyptic Tone Recently Adopted in Philosophy
– “Of an Apocalyptic Tone Recently Adopted in Philosophy,” Oxford Literary Review 6.2 (1984): pp. 3-37.Excerpt: “I shall speak then of/in an apocalytic tone in philosophy.”
The White Mythology: Metaphor in the Text of Philosophy
– “The White Mythology: Metaphor in the Text of Philosophy,” New Literary History 6.1 (1974): pp. 5-74.Excerpt: “Metaphor in the text of philosophy. We might be confident of understanding every word of this phrase; we might hasten to make out a figure (or to write it in) in the volume capable of philosophy; we might set ourselves to deal with a specific… More
The Ends of Man
– “The Ends of Man,” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 30.1 (1969): pp. 31-57.Excerpt: “Every philosophical colloquium has a political significance. And not only due to that which has always linked the essence of the philosophical to the essence of the political. Essential and general, this political import nevertheless burdens the a… More