The Ethics of Deconstruction: Derrida and Levinas

Simon Critchley

Published by Edinburgh University Press 2014

The Ethics of Deconstruction

Derrida and Levinas

Simon Critchley

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780748689330

Overview
Contents

About this book

An expanded edition of the first book to argue for the ethical turn in Derrida's work

New for this edition

This third edition contains three new texts, and a new preface where Critchley reflects upon the origins, motivation and reception of The Ethics of Deconstruction

The Ethics of Deconstruction, Simon Critchley’s first book, was originally published to great acclaim in 1992. It was the first book to argue for the ethical turn in Derrida's work and to show as powerfully as possible how deconstruction has persuasive ethical consequences that are vital to our thinking through of questions of politics and democracy. Rather than being concerned with deconstruction in terms of the contradictions inherent in any text – an approach typical of the early Derrida and those in literary criticism aiming to extract a critical method for an application to literature – Critchley concerns himself with the philosophical context necessary for an understanding of the ethics of deconstructive reading. Far from being some sort of value-free nihilism or textual free-play, Critchley showed the ethical impetus that was driving Derrida’s work. His claim was that Derrida’s understanding of ethics has to be understood in relation to his engagement with the work of Levinas and the book lays out the details of their philosophical confrontation.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Abbreviations Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Preface to Third Edition Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Preface to Second Edition Publicly Available Download PDF	xvii
Prefatory Note and Acknowledgements Publicly Available Download PDF	xix
1 The Ethics of Deconstruction: The Argument Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2 The Problem of Closure in Derrida Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	59
3 Clôtural Readings I: ‘Bois’ – Derrida’s Final Word on Levinas Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	107
4 Clôtural Readings II: Wholly Otherwise: Levinas’s Reading of Derrida Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	145
5 A Question of Politics: The Future of Deconstruction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	188
Appendix 1 The Ethics of Deconstruction: An Attempt at Self-Criticism Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	248
Appendix 2 Habermas and Derrida Get Married Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	267
Appendix 3 Emmanuel Levinas Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	281
Appendix 4 Derrida: The Reader Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	288
Appendix 5 Leaving the Climate of Heidegger’s Thinking Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	295
Appendix 6 Five Problems in Levinas’s View of Politics and the Sketch of a Solution to Them Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	303
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	319

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Audience: College/higher education;
Pages
- Main content: 352
Keywords: Philosophy

eBook

Published: March 19, 2014
ISBN: 9780748689330