Derrida
Deconstruction from Phenomenology to Ethics
Key Contemporary Thinkers
1. Edition November 1998
192 Pages, Softcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd
This book is an unusually readable and lucid account of the
development of Derrida's work, from his early writings on
phenomenology and structuralism to his most recent interventions in
debates on psychoanalysis, ethics and politics.
Christina Howells gives a clear explanation of many of the key
terms of deconstruction - including différance, trace,
supplement and logocentrism - and shows how they function in
Derrida's writing. She explores his critique of the notion of
self-presence through his engagement with Husserl, and his critique
of humanist conceptions of the subject through an account of his
ambivalent and evolving relationship to the philosophy of Sartre.
The question of the relationship between philosophy and literature
is examined through an analysis of the texts of the 1970s, and in
particular Glas, where Derrida confronts Hegel's totalizing
dialectics with the fragmentary and iconoclastic writings of Jean
Genet.
The author addresses directly the vexed questions of the extreme
difficulty of Derrida's own writing and of the passionate hostility
it arouses in philosophers as diverse as Searle and Habermas. She
argues that deconstruction is a vital stimulus to vigilance in both
the ethical and political spheres, contributing significantly to
debate on issues such as democracy, the legacy of Marxism,
responsibility, and the relationship between law and justice.
Comprehensive, cogently argued and up to date, this book will be
an invaluable text for students and scholars alike.
Abbreviations.
Apologia.
1. Phenomenology.
2. Structuralism.
3. Language: Speech and Writing.
4. Deconstructing the Text: Literature and Philosophy.
5. Deconstruction and Psychoanalysis.
6. The Ethics and Politics of Deconstruction and the
Deconstruction of Ethics and Politics.
Notes.
Bibliography.
Index.
delight equally those who have not yet started reading Derrida and
those who cannot stop. Its concise and elegant expositions of texts
ranging from his very early to his very recent ones will disarm all
but the most dogmatic of Derridaphobes, showing them gently but
firmly that their resistance arises from their own misconstruction
of how deconstruction works. All Derridaphiles will wish that they
themselves had written this just and responsible book." John
Llewelyn, lately Reader in Philosophy at the University of
Edinburgh and Visiting Professor at the University of Memphis and
Loyola University of Chicago
"As we have come to expect from Christina Howells' exemplary
earlier work on Sartre, this book on Derrida is comprehensively
researched, clearly written and strongly argued. It is a valuable
and much-needed addition to the literature that will be essential
reading for anybody interested in Derrida." Simon Critchley,
University of Essex
"interesting - her claims around the idea that
deconstructive readings subject philosophical texts "to the same
kind of analysis as literary ones" are particularly
thought-provoking" Simon Glendinning, Times Literary
Supplement