Re: Derrida and Habermas -- PS

Neither was I claiming that he endorsed a "generic principle" of any kind --
simply within the context of the article, in this particular case, he seemed to
assume that political alignment means a philosophical one too.

The quotation you selected is actually a perfect illustration of my claim. The
opposition he sets up in the quotation is between "deconstructionism" (which I
don't think the author really understands, but is within the orbit of Derridean
philosophy) and "Eurocentric activism" (political activity) which is a sign of
his endorsement of "modernist Enlightenment principles" (a new philosophical
alignment that stands in opposition to "deconstructionism").

It's not possible, in other words, that Derrida could simply see this document
as espousing a course of action that is in the material best interests of the
European Union, or that the threat the US poses to European interests requires
this kind of a response.

There are two ways to take this.

First, according to the author of the article, Derrida's acting out a change in
philosophy and can only be acting out a change in philosophy, and that is it --
as if Derrida's actions could only proceed from an articulated philosophy of
some kind.

Next, Derrida's political activism is of a nature that it necessarily proceeds
from a change in philosophy, or that it implies, though doesn't state, a change
in philosophical stance. This would be a more tenable thesis, but he doesn't
take the time to give his readers enough of a description of the political
activism and enough of a description of Derrida's philosophy for us to be able
to see how the two are incompatible.

I don't think he's up to this, because I don't think he really understands
Derrida.

Nothing generic about this particular criticism, as you see.

Jim

"L. Manning Vines" wrote:

> Jim writes:
> << What I didn't like about the article was that it presupposed a political
> alignment meant a philosophical one too. >>
>
> I don't think the article presupposes this. "Jacques Derrida [. . .] signed
> on as co-author of an article [. . .] in an unmistakable endorsement of
> modernist Enlightenment principles. Derrida, the apostle of
> deconstructionism, is now advocating some decidedly constructive and
> Eurocentric activism." The author seems to see this particular political
> statement as contradictory to this particular man's philosophy. Perhaps he
> is wrong about this, which would render the force of his article lifeless,
> but he doesn't seem to be supposing a generic principle that political
> alignments require philosophical ones.
>
> -robbie
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Received on Sat Aug 9 18:22:52 2003