Abstract

Derrida and Feminism is a collection of critical essays about deconstruction and the question of "Woman." The question of "Woman" refers to the traditional philosophical problem of defining being or essence: what makes a woman a "Woman"? Derrida's answer is that the concept of "Woman" is undecidable as are all such proper names and concepts: the meanings of our words are not univocal, fully determined, or stable. Meaning slips across uses and contexts. The same word never means exactly the same thing twice—such is the active, dynamic function of language. However, although the essence of a woman can, therefore, never be decided once and for all, has deconstruction helped the feminist project? For what reasons ought Derrida's readers to be wary of his implicit collusion with the phallogocentrism he allegedly undermines?