Search

The philosophy of Jacques Derrida is one of the milestones of twentieth century thought and is still of great influence in many disciplines today. This book offers a survey of many aspects of Derrida’s work, mainly focusing on the significance of his thoughts for the domains of ethics, politics and religion. The main thesis of this study is that the key to a fruitful evaluation of the strong and weak points of his work can be found in its ambiguous relation to the metaphysical tradition. Usually Derrida’s ideas, and deconstruction as it is practiced and manifested by many others, are seen as a critique of metaphysics. This is true, but it is also just one side of the matter. In many cases, especially in by far the most of Derrida’s texts, deconstructions are as well a continuation and even an affirmation of the metaphysical tradition. Despite his continuous critique of metaphysical ways of thought, and despite the deconstructions of metaphysical constructions, Derrida’s own style of thinking and writing is still driven by a metaphysical desire that includes a “hubris of metaphysics”. Through this perspective, this study provides a profound evaluation of the significance of Derrida’s philosophy for ethics, politics and religion.

The philosophy of Jacques Derrida is one of the milestones of twentieth century thought and is still of great influence in many disciplines today. This book offers a survey of many aspects of Derrida’s work, mainly focusing on the significance of his thoughts for the domains of ethics, politics and religion. The main thesis of this study is that the key to a fruitful evaluation of the strong and weak points of his work can be found in its ambiguous relation to the metaphysical tradition. Usually Derrida’s ideas, and deconstruction as it is practiced and manifested by many others, are seen as a critique of metaphysics. This is true, but it is also just one side of the matter. In many cases, especially in by far the most of Derrida’s texts, deconstructions are as well a continuation and even an affirmation of the metaphysical tradition. Despite his continuous critique of metaphysical ways of thought, and despite the deconstructions of metaphysical constructions, Derrida’s own style of thinking and writing is still driven by a metaphysical desire that includes a “hubris of metaphysics”. Through this perspective, this study provides a profound evaluation of the significance of Derrida’s philosophy for ethics, politics and religion.

In Jan Patočka’s phenomenology of intersubjectivity one can find clear influences of Merleau-Ponty. By both philosophers intersubjectivity is seen as a form of reversibility that has a primacy above personal subjectivity. But Patočka adds to this idea of reversibility the notion of surrender or dedication. In this article it is demonstrated how Patočka’s conception on surrender is developed in his idea of the three movements of human existence. Moreover, the understanding of intersubjectivity through surrender is presented as an important step towards an answer to several points of critique on Merleau-Ponty’s views on intersubjectivity, that were brought to the fore by Claude Lefort. Finally, in this article several aspects of surrender are distinguished in order to give more insight in the functioning and effects of the third movement of human life.

Twenty-first-century societies are no longer oriented towards the future, but increasingly to the present moment. Bergson and History shows how Henri Bergson’s philosophy of time and life can help us to restore the relevance of history in our presentistic society and culture. Bergson allows us to transform the ‘modern regime of historicity’, by situating human history within the broader framework of life as a creative becoming.