R. Beardsworth: The Future of Critical Philosophy and World Politics

The author is interested in re-examining Derrida’s legacy and its role in critical philosophy and the contemporary moment of modernity in a way that does away with what he sees as the generally limited potential of recent French thought.
What’s at stake for him is the understanding that “at the precise moment [...]

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S. Newman: ‘Anarchism, Poststructuralism and the Future of Radical Politics’

Saul Newman’s essay “Anarchism, Poststructuralism and the Future of Radical Politics” discusses, as one might expect, the possibilities for radical politics after such politics are subjected to the critiques of poststructuralism. Newman comes out in favor of a “post-anarchism” that embraces the core values of classical anarchism while incorporating the post-structuralist critiques. If one can [...]

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P. Damai: Messianic City: Ruins, Refuge and Hospitality in Derrida

Central to Puspa Damai’s article on the Messianic-City is the concept of hospitality. It is inextricable from the Derridian concept of a “city of refuge” and what Derrida sees as the intent of a city. Ruin, the threat of ruin and asylum are [...]

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L. Lawlor: ‘From the Trace to the Law: Derridean Politics’

Leonard Lawlor’s “From the Trace to the Law: Derridean Politics,” aims to situate Derrida’s later political engagements in terms of his earlier work on language, namely how Derrida’s work in political theory is informed by his critique of metaphysics. By focusing on Derrida’s insistence on the irreducible metaphoricity of language, as well as his concepts [...]

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tangents on foucault, history, identity politics, etc…

When reading Spectres of Marx and coming across the phrase “the time is out of joint” again and again, I recalled the explorations of Foucault in Society Must Be Defended.

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Tasing a Bro

You’ve surely seen it, but it is worth seeing with the conceptual tools of this course (thus far). And maybe asking some disconcerting questions about the inability of justice to speak itself in a way that mobilizes, rather than unnerves. Of course I’m talking about the UFlorida student who was handcuffed and tasered by security [...]

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Love and Justice?

Take a few minutes to listen to and watch this short exchange with Derrida on love. Aside from the rather comical beginning (the interviewer’s French slurs amour to it sounds like mort – love sounds like death!), as well as Derrida’s strangely unsuccessful attempt to get a specific question, Derrida’s thoughts are really interesting.

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Equal, Unequal : Law, Justice

I wanted to write this quick note about Wednesday’s class discussion.
Central to our concerns, of course, is the relation between law and justice in Derrida’s “Force of Law” essay. The claim is that law is founded in an act of violence and rests on a mystical foundation, which is a way of indicating the fiat [...]

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