Deconstruction and Democracy

by Thomson, Alex

• ISBN13: 9780826499899
• ISBN10: 0826499899
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-12-15
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic

Summary

'No democracy without deconstruction': Deconstruction and Democracy evaluates and substantiates Derrida's provocative claim, assessing the importance of this influential and controversial contemporary philosopher's work for political thought. Derrida addressed political questions more and more explicitly in his writing, yet there is still confusion over the politics of deconstruction. Alex Thomson argues for a fresh understanding of Derrida's work, which acknowledges both the political dimension of deconstruction and its potential contribution to our thinking about politics.

Author Biography

Alex Thomson is a lecturer in the Department of English at the University of Edinburgh, UK

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	p. vi
Abbreviations	p. vii
Introduction	p. 1
Deconstruction and Democracy	p. 9
No Democracy without Deconstruction?	p. 12
Deconstruction and Liberal Democracy	p. 31
Deconstruction and Radical Democracy	p. 41
Deconstruction as Political Practice	p. 55
Deconstruction and Philosophical Nationalism	p. 58
The Politics of Exemplarity: Derrida and Heidegger	p. 74
Hospitality and the Cosmopolitical	p. 89
Politics against Ethics	p. 101
Economy of Violence: Derrida and Levinas	p. 104
Against Community	p. 122
Deconstruction and Depoliticization	p. 145
The Spectrality of Politics	p. 148
Depoliticization and Repoliticization	p. 161
The Politics of Spectrality	p. 174
Deconstruction and Depoliticization	p. 185
Conclusion	p. 198
Notes	p. 203
Bibliography	p. 214
Index	p. 223
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