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Jacques Derrida ( July 15, 1930 – October 8, 2004) was an Algerian-born French literary critic and philosopher of Jewish descent, considered the first to develop " deconstruction". 1 Positioning Derrida's thought
Derrida had a significant effect on continental philosophy and on literary theory, particularly through his long-time association with the literary critic Paul de Man; though the reception of deconstruction in literary criticism is not universally agreed to be consonant with Derrida's work.
His work is often associated with post-structuralism and postmodernism, but the latter association cannot be fully credited. Jean-François LyotardJean-Francois Lyotard ( 1924- 1998) was a French philosopher and literary theorist. Life and work Among other things, he is well-known for his embrace postmodernism after the late 1970s. Before that, he was a member of the group Socialisme ou Barbarie ('S, rather, is the closest link between deconstruction and postmodernism, proposing philosophical senses of the latter, which Derrida used primarily in lengthy dialogues that admit no easy conjunction between their work -- see for example Derrida's "Writing Proofs" and Lyotard's "Translator's Notes", Pli vol. 6.
2 Deconstruction, for Derrida
As Derrida explained in his "Letter to a Japanese Friend" (Derrida and Differance, eds. Robert Bernasconi and David Wood) the word "déconstruction" was his attempt both to translate and re-appropriate for his own ends the Heideggerian terms 'Destruktion' and 'Abbau' via a word from the French language, the varied senses of which seemed consistent with his requirements.
Deconstruction is related to vast tracts of the Western philosophicalPhilosophy literally means 'love of wisdom' from the Greek 'philo' and 'sofia'. It is now widely used to designate the pursuit of knowledge or wisdom about fundamental matters concerning life, death, meaning, reality, being and truth. The term may also re tradition, also to distinct but abutting academic disciplines such as linguisticsBroadly conceived, linguistics is the study of human language, and a linguist is someone who engages in this study. The study of linguistics can be thought of along three major axes, the endpoints of which are described below: Synchronic and diachronic Sy and anthropologyAnthropology (from the Greek word ANTHROPOLOGIA consists of the study of humankind (see genus Homo . It is holistic in two senses: it is concerned with all humans at all times, and with all dimensions of humanity. Central to anthropology is the concept of (called the "human sciences" in France). Derrida's examination of the latter's philosophical foundations, both conceptual and historical, and their continued reliance on philosophical argument (whether self-consciously or not), was an important aspect of his thought. Among his foremost influences are Edmund HusserlEdmund Gustav Albrecht Husserl ( April 8, 1859 April 26, 1938), philosopher, was born into a Jewish family in Prossnitz, Moravia (Prostejov, Czech Republic), Empire of Austria-Hungary. He is known as the "father" of phenomenology. He was a pupil of Franz, Sigmund FreudSigmund Freud ( May 6, 1856 September 23, 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of the psychoanalytic school of psychology, a movement that popularized the theory that unconscious motives control much behavior. He became interested in hypnotis and Martin HeideggerMartin Heidegger ( September 26, 1889 May 26, 1976) was a German philosopher. He studied at the University of Freiburg under Edmund Husserl, the founder of phenomenology, and became a professor there in 1928. He influenced many other major philosophers, a.
3 Derrida as a French philosopher
In addition to de Man and Lyotard, his approximate contemporaries, many of whom were also friends (philosophically and personally), included Michel Foucault, Louis Althusser, Emmanuel Levinas, Maurice Blanchot, Gilles Deleuze, Jean-Luc Nancy, Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe, Sarah Kofman , Hélène Cixous, Bernard Stiegler , and Geoffrey Bennington , among others.
Derrida was active in organizing French philosophers against the so-called Haby reform proposed by the government of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, by helping to convene the Estates General of Philosophy and through his activities as a founder of the Philosophical Pedagogy Research Group (French acronym: GREPH). He was also a founder and the first president of the International College of Philosophy (French acronym: CIPH), a research institution intended to give a place to philosophical researches which could not be carried out elsewhere in the academy.
