The controversy over Jacques Derrida's legacy is one of the most effective engines driving the contemporary debate, far beyond the bounds of philosophy. By now, the variety of contesting positions is so wide that it calls for a critical assessment to achieve a unified theoretical scheme. The dyad of deconstruction and reconstruction, to which the title of the volume refers, aims at composing a kind of map of this debate. The three sections of the book include essays that investigate specific (...) aspects of Derrida's reception, from the view of 1. philosophy, 2. literary studies and 3. politics and law. These contributions study the implications of deconstruction beyond its original scope and intervene by taking stock of its most relevant aporias. (shrink)

Les Cahiers noirs de Martin Heidegger ont suscité des réactions si divergentes qu’il n’est pas illégitime de s’interroger sur la cause de cette plurivocité. Est-il possible qu’une série de textes produise des réactions si discordantes – de la minimisation à l’exaspération, du sarcasme à la caricature, du scandale à l’excommunication? Il est opportun de chercher dans les Cahiers noirs les racines de cette fragmentation. Cet article soutenir la thèse selon laquelle la structure et les contenus mêmes des Cahiers noirs porteraient (...) en eux une sorte de double contrainte entre le dessin antimétaphysique et la « rechute » dans une métaphysique puissance deux : une contradiction interne à la trame des Cahiers noirs, qui produit deux figures de pensée incompatibles entre elles mais qui représente le contenu philosophique le plus précieux de ces textes. (shrink)

Gianni Vattimo, one of Europe's foremost contemporary philosophers and most famously associated with the concept of weak thought, explores theoretical and practical issues flowing from his fundamental rejection of the traditional Western understanding of Being as an absolute, unchanging, and transcendent reality. The essays in this book move within the surroundings of Being without constructing a systematic, definitive analysis of the topic. In Being and Its Surroundings, Vattimo continues his career-long exploration of the philosophy of Martin Heidegger, in particular his (...) repudiation of metaphysics with its presupposition of the existence of permanent, universal truth, and that of Friedrich Nietzsche, with its promotion of nihilism. One consequence of problematizing the idea of an attainable truth is the relativization of values and cultures. In the face of the death of God – or the absence of a transcendent guarantor of the validity of human judgments – we have the postmodern tendency to see all value systems and assertions of truth as purely subjective, and to suggest that "anything goes," which Nietzsche called passive nihilism. Vattimo advocates a more active response as he challenges all forms of authoritarianism in the world today. He brings his intellectual acumen to bear on such urgent issues as globalization, the clash of civilizations and terrorism, the crisis of democracy, and the relevance of orthodox religion. Rather than endorse dogmatism or indifference and detachment from social engagement in the name of relativism, Vattimo opts for the path of meaningful dialogue and a search for a mediated consensus based on reason, with all its limitations. (shrink)